A LARGE WOOD FIGURE OF A TARTAR ARCHER
Signed Tomokazu
20th century

The wood of a reddish tone and powerfully carved as large tartar archer (dattanjin) holding a bow in his left hand and an arrow in the other. His finely incised robe is decorated with cloud patterns and shows boldly executed and accentuated folds with flowing sleeves. The archer has a large trifurcated beard and grimly looks out from his finely carved, large and wide hat. The backside shows a dragonheaded quiver. There are no openings for himotoshi. Signature TOMOKAZU 友一 on the underside of one foot. The work is of defined sculptural quality.

HEIGHT 11.5 cm

Condition: Excellent condition.
Provenance: The Gabor Wilhelm Collection.

This work appears to be an exact copy of the tartar archer in the Trumpf collection illustrated in Patricia Jirka Schmitz, Netsuke, fig. 6. However, the illustrated netsuke has himotoshi between the dragon-headed quiver.