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I purched this as an antique over 50 years ago; it had a long metal piece against his hand going down to the base.27 3/4" tall
Can anyone help identify this?
Welcome to the forum Patricia, unfortunately I do not know when your statue was made, but it is well presented on the stand and is interesting, so I am going to boost back up on the page, in case our members who know about such things may yet see it. Sharon
Is it just me or does it look like it was stripped at some point?
The piece looks Japanese. I’m not familiar with whom is being depicted.
Often these lacquer wood statues would loose their lacquer over 400-500 years, and sometimes it was intentionally removed, but fakes exist, too.
A good clue to the actual age is the weight. Over hundreds of years, wood looses most of its water content, so a surprisingly light weight for a wooden object’s size is a good indication that it is old.
thanks for all the replies; I took same pictures of the stand and the arm ( it is attached by nails). Hope this helps.
That base looks relatively recent to my novice eye. I would have expected darkening, maybe some softening or worm holes. Perhaps this type of wood doesn't get that kind of damage?
I don't know much about wood, but I have owned and seen plenty of old pieces and this looks 20th c to me, with the stand and base added at some point afterwards.
Patricia,
Here are some observations, in no particular order:
- The inscription appears to be ka-tsu-ra-ten かつらてん, although I'm not absolutely sure of the second and third characters. てん - Chinese character 天）is the Japanese designation for a Deva, or lesser Buddhist deity. Benzaiten, one of the Japanese Seven Lucky Gods, is probably the best known. I googled Katsuraten, but found nothing (could be my misreading of the inscription). A Japanese person familiar with Buddhist iconography would probably be able to identify this figure. Could the long metal piece that you refer to have been a spear or other weapon?
- If you go to a Japanese temple, you will see that many of the wooden sculptures have lost much or most of their paint, so the condition of this figure is not surprising. It's also possible, as some of the others have suggested, that a dealer did some of the paint removal, since buyers tend to prefer the raw wood (just as we prefer to see Ancient Greek statues without their original paint).
- The wood may be Keya-ki (zelkova), judging from the view of the bottom.
- The rectangular peg and base are obviously new. The top of the base has faded, but the footprint of the statue and the bottom of the base reveal the original dark stain.
Good luck!
Regards,
John Lee
Also, can you do a "full frontal" of the figure, not shooting from above, so we can get a better idea of its proportions?
hope this helps,
Thanks
I wonder if there is any relation to Kangiten the Japanese buddhist version of Ganesh if I remember correctly?
would be holding an axe or trident maybe.
Very interesting that the squared piece at the base looks recently cut but the rest of the base shows great age. I wonder if it was bigger and cut down and mounted more recently?
Jeremy
Jeremy, Patricia,
I was wondering about Kangiten, but I don't see how you get there from the inscription on the back, even though the first character is "ka" and the last two are "te-n". Here's a link to a Wikipedia article on the Japanese buddhist pantheon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Buddhist_pantheon
I think we're in pretty esoteric territory. Patricia, is there a museum of Asian art in your area? If so, if they have an expert on Japanese art or, better still, Japanese Buddhist art, they might be able to help you.
Regards,
John
Thanks everyone; I have looked for elephant head dress as well as bird; the only elephant I could find is under Indian gods,
Now it is driving me crazy!
Trish
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