Superb Large Wooden Dolls in a Rare Youthful-Persons Variation, Mid-1800s

Live Auction

22" (56 cm.) Each has distinctively-carved wooden head, lustrous gofun finish with painted facial features, she with modest downcast eyes and he with well-defined gazing eyes, mouths painted as though open with suggestion of teeth, black human hair with painted feathering around the face (the woman with long straight hair to her hips, and the man with elaborately pulled-back hair that is captured in a coil at his crown), formed body, carved wooden hands and feet with one hand sculpted to hold a rake or broom. Wearing superb silk costumes of unusually rich textiles with embroidered designs, the man (Jo) with banded silk trousers, green brocade jacket with phoenix design, red under jacket embroidered with crane and lattice design, holding a gilded garden rake; the woman (Uba) with an extraordinary outer coat (uchigake) with incense designs, obi with plum designs, and a red silk inner panel with heavily embroidered designs of turtle, plum and pine, holding a broom in her right hand. The pair are presented on their original fabric-edged wooden platform. Excellent condition. Late Edo period, circa 1860, representing the classic figures from the Noh performance of Takasago, in which a long-wedded couple, residing under the "pine tree of abiding love" work steadily to freshen, preserve and prolong their love by sweeping and raking away the fallen needles, thus symbolizing the constant renewing of their love. The pair is usually presented as aged; this pair is notable for the youth of its couple, their grand size, luxury details, and superb state of preservation. This pair is shown in Ningyo, The Art of the Japanese Doll by Alan Scott Pate, page 211. Other less luxury examples of the Takasago legend appear as #134 and #207 in this book.