Shunga Netsuke of Lovers upon a Spread Kimono, Chrysanthemum and Peony Engraving, Mammoth Tusk
Shunga Netsuke of Lovers upon a Spread Kimono, Chrysanthemum and Peony Engraving, Mammoth Tusk
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $615, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
With EMS, any charge is collected by your postal service on delivery. For pieces of significant value we can often arrange duties prepaid before dispatch.
How the estimate is reached · Ask for a figure on this piece
- Character
- Resplendent 9 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
| Figure | cm | in |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 6.0 cm | 2.4 in |
| Height | 3.5 cm | 1.4 in |
| Depth | 3.0 cm | 1.2 in |
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Excellent
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
A Year of Flowers Beneath Them
Shunga was called warai-e, laughing pictures, and was given at weddings and carried by warriors as a charm. This group keeps that spirit of ease: nothing is furtive, everything is ornamental.
Best for: Collectors of ukiyo-e shunga and major figure-group netsuke
Condition notes
No conspicuous marks recorded. Staining and ink engraving are bright, and the polish is even.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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All sales are final. Please read our refund policy before purchase.
Considered offers only. The Desk replies personally to figures made in good faith; those set far below the asking price receive no reply.
Examined in Tokyo, one price, insured to your door. How buying from Japonista works · Join the Circle, free
A man with a shaven crown and topknot bends over his reclining lover, the pair resting on a kimono opened beneath them like a field of chrysanthemums and peonies.
This piece belongs to the private room of the house and is shown to adults only.
The Piece
This is the largest and most ambitious of the couple groups, six centimetres long and composed to be read from every side. From the front one sees two faces: his intent, hers turned away in pleasure, her coiffure still dressed with combs and flowered pins. From behind, the composition becomes pure textile, the robe falling in soft folds that the carver has engraved with flower heads and filled with red, violet and green.
The underside is finished as carefully as the top, the spread garment forming a continuous decorated base that carries a red seal signature. Hair is cut strand by strand and inked, and the bodies are polished to the warm gloss that only tusk takes.
Iconography and Meaning
The image comes from the ukiyo-e album, where lovers are almost never shown unclothed: it is the tumble of patterned silk around them that carries the luxury and the season. Chrysanthemum speaks of autumn and long life, peony of wealth and spring, so the robe wraps the couple in a whole year of good fortune.
To the eye trained on European sculpture the appeal is immediate and a little startling: a complete composition, finished on every face including the one that rests on the table, in an object that weighs no more than a few coins. It was this union of intimacy and perfection that made the netsuke the emblem of Japonisme, and that keeps it at the centre of Western collections of Japanese art.
Details
- Type: Katabori netsuke, carved in the round
- Subject: Lovers reclining on an opened kimono
- Material: Woolly mammoth tusk
- Technique: Hand carving, staining and ink engraving
- Colour: Ivory white with red, violet, green and black
- Length: 60 mm (2.4 in)
- Width: 30 mm (1.2 in)
- Height: 35 mm (1.4 in)
- Period: Contemporary, in the classical tradition
- Made in: Japan
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 1 to 2 mm.
Condition
- No conspicuous marks, chips or repairs are recorded.
- Staining and ink engraving are bright, and the polish is even.
- Every photograph is part of the description.
Condition grade A (excellent) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Carved by hand in Japan from the tusk of the woolly mammoth, an extinct species whose fossil tusk is not elephant ivory and is not listed under CITES. It is a contemporary work in the classical tradition, examined and photographed in Japan before dispatch. Rules on mammoth tusk differ between countries and, in the United States, between states; please confirm that it may be received at your address before you buy. Keep away from direct sun, dry heat and sudden changes of humidity, and handle with clean dry hands.
Delivery from Japan
Wrapped by hand in Japan in soft tissue and a rigid case, and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Further pieces of the kind are kept in Shunga and Hidden Arts and in the wider room of Netsuke, Sagemono and Inro.
Concierge
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