$7,250
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Description
18" (46 cm.) and 24". Comprising the pair, Amagatsu (Heavenly Child) and Hoko (Crawling Baby) doll, of which Amagatsu, the male, is constructed of silk and paper-wrapped wood dowels formed into a T-shape and mounted on a gold leafed paper covered wooden base, having a stuffed silk head with lightly formed features and blue tint to symbolize the closely shaved head of a baby, wearing a safflower orange outer kimono with padded hem and a white silk under kimono. And Hoko, the female, crafted of white silk sewn into a a simple shape with the addition of a stuffed silk head with lightly formed and painted features with black silk applied in two long braids with gold leafed paper cuffs. Soiling and extensive wear to textile of kimono. Edo Period, 18th century. Initially collected in Japan in the early 1950s through the curator of the Imperial Museum, Nishizawa Tekiho (1889-1965) by Colonel Robert and Eloise Thomas, the pair of dolls were importantly featured in their Yesteryear's Museum in Sandwich, MA. Exhibited Japan Society (1995), Mingei International Museum (2005). Published in Ningyo: The Art of The Human Figure, p. 86, Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll, p. 91. Amagatsu and hoko are considered particularly powerful objects designed to protect infants from malevolent influences. The vast majority were burned as part of an individual's funerary rights for women and at the coming-of-age ceremony for boys, rendering extant examples very rare.