Modelled as a Hotei figure, seated and leaning to his right, his knees bent, his bare toes curled, his left hand holding the neck of a gourd, his right hand holding a uchiwa richly decorated with a key pattern inside thickly drawn iron red and gold bands. The glazed white figure with a flowing robe painted in black enamels edged with a border of iron red, his broadly smiling face and laughing eyes, his pendulous stomach emerging from his robe indicating an appreciation, perhaps, of the contents of the flask, which itself is decorated with a scattering of auspicious symbols decorated in iron red, gold, black and green on a white ground, the narrow white ribbed neck of the flask above a moulded lappet border in iron red, the whole piece resonating with good humour and good auguries, the Hotei figure with his cheerful mien, stubble chin and sideburns, swelling belly, and his bare, chubby, curling toes suggestive of good humour and the enjoyment of nature's bounties.
AN EXTREMELY FINE AND RARE IMARI TOKKURI , Last quarter of the 17th century
Height: 21 cm; 8 ¼”
Modelled as a Hotei figure, seated and leaning to his right, his knees bent, his bare toes curled, his left hand holding the neck of a gourd, his right hand...
