A wood netsuke of a baku


Early 19th centuryUnsigned. 5.1cm (2in) wide.
|木彫根付　獏　無銘　19世紀前期Provenance:McTaggart collection.Published: Katchen, N7, vol.2, p.381, no.K355.Walking with its head lowered, turned back to the left and its curly tail passing forward over the back to join the mane, the slightly worn wood with a fine patina.The model is similar to an elephant or baku carved beneath the eaves of the Toshogu Shrine in Nikko which in turn was copied from drawings by Kano Tanyu (1602-1674).Other examples of this model are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, Masachusetts, the Musée d'Ennery, Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (ivory). Another, from the Harriet Szechenyi collection, is illustrated in Bandini, SON, p.18, no.30, and was sold in these rooms, 8 November 2011, lot 48.