Ubume & Jizo

ANTIQUE JAPANESE NETSUKE

Superbly carved rare boxwood netsuke, depicting the Ghost of Ubume holding her baby Jizo.
Her apparition rising from a cloud of vapour, she looks down at her baby dressed in a child's kimono playfully pulling his mothers hair into his mouth while she cradles him in her arms.
Her face portrayed in a grimacing smile as she tries to entice passersby to hold her baby.
Loose flowing robe exposing her right breast. The slightly worn wood bearing a light patina.

Netsuke on this subject are rare.

Formerly the property of a Japanese collector.

Please refer to the images for details as they also form the description.

Depending on your computer monitor / phone / etc colour may vary to actual

Condition: Excellent. Aged patina.

Unsigned:
Himotoshi: Back

Height: 10.4 cm
Length: 3.2 cm
Depth: 2.7 cm

A$1.200

Ubume (産女), are the ghosts of women who have sadly died in childbirth and cannot find the peace they desire. They subsequently appear to any passerby, begging them to take and look after their child, then they disappear.

Comparable Pieces:
Bonhams Auctioners London UK : 'Fine Japanese Art ' Ghost of Ubume 14 May 2015 Lot 28. £3,500 (A$5,700)

Bonhams Auctioners London UK : Adrienne Barbanson collection, Ghost of Ubume (Signed Masatoshi) 13 May 2013, lot 53. £10,000 (A$ 16,254)

British Museum - An early 20th century commissioned piece by Naito Koseki. Bequeathed by Oscar Charles Raphael.