YORIMITSU: A RARE AND UNUSUAL BAMBOO OMAI TYPE MASK NETSUKE

YORIMITSU: A RARE AND UNUSUAL BAMBOO OMAI TYPE MASK NETSUKE
By Yorimitsu (Raiko), signed Yorimitsu 頼光
Japan, 19th century
Published:
Bushell, Raymond Netsuke (1975) Familiar & Unfamiliar, p. 144, no. 299.
Lazarnick, George (1981) Netsuke & Inro Artists, and How to Read Their Signatures, vol. 2, p. 857.
Bushell, Raymond (1985), Netsuke Masks, pls. 288A and 288B.
Well carved in the round with a stern expression marked by thick furrowed brows, wide eyes, a broad nose, and the mouth agape showing teeth and tongue. The reverse with two large himotoshi above the signature YORIMITSU (Raiko).
HEIGHT 6.8 cm
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, tiny nicks, light scratches, the bamboo with natural flaws with two associated small losses to the forehead and chin (which are visible in the aforementioned publication illustrations as well).
Provenance
: Ex-collection M. Souquet. Ex-collection Raymond Bushell, sold at Sotheby's, Japanese and Korean Works of Art, 21 March 2001, New York, lot 153. Previously in a Dutch private estate. Van Ham, 8 December 2016, Cologne, lot 2484. European private collection P. Jacquesson, acquired from the above.
With its distinctively prominent nose, this mask is typical of those used in Omai, a type of Japanese ritual dance. Dancers wearing such masks were commonly seen at the head of Buddhist and Shinto processions in the 1300s and 1400s.