The William Oates Jeffery Collection - Netsuke, Ojime, and other Ivory Objects

 Hut with Straw Roof and Tree

dimensions:

 1 3/8" high x 7/8" wide x 1 3/8" long

Collected in Japan

  circa 1935

Late 18th / early 19th century elephant Ivory Netsuke depicting a rural hut with a straw roof.  Interior details include hanging poultry, a cooking kettle, and what look like bins or counters, indicating the scene may be a restaurant or grocery.  A single figure stands to the side, pushing or pulling on a stick or tool of some kind.  The roof is overhung with leaves from a nearby tree, with the trunk tucked up against the side of the hut.

SOLD

Distinctive triangular (Bachi-Ochi) form typical of early netsuke, which were carved from triangular shaped left-over pieces of ivory.

Signed on bottom. Artist may be the carver Unzan.

Two holes in bottom.

Good Condition.  Nice patina.  Two fracture lines in back of carving, obviously present when the piece was carved because the artist has integrated a carving of leaves on the underside of the piece along the larger of the two cracks.  Faint number 58 written in red pencil on bottom.

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