Entertainer and his monkey – netsuke

Baidō (active 19th century)

Item type:

sculpture

Date of creation:

mid-19th century

Height:

5.6 cm  (2 3/16 in.)

Width:

5.0 cm  (2 in.)

Technique / Medium:

carved ivory

Additional titles

Description

From the Národní galerie Praha website: The term netsuke literally means “to root” referring to the function of the netsuke fasteners, which were attached by cords to kimono obi sashes. Besides being elaborately detailed, netsuke fasteners were typically dynamic and funny, like in this case. Performances by monkey entertainers sarumawashi (monkey dancing) were a popular folk pastime; monkeys were also cast as characters in the most popular scenes from well-known theatre plays, and therefore did not feature only in musical-acrobatic or dancing performances.

Iconclass

34A42
earning money with monkey

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Cylindrical drum [2532]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

5704