$6,750
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Description
1 1/2" (4 cm.) "- 2 1/2" figures. 24" x 25" case. Finely rendered miniature wood set depicting of one hundred examples of people, each hand carved with tinted details of costume and posed on a wood base with gold leaf treatment with inscription. The persons depict courtier nobility, samurai lords and retainers, townspeople, folk dancers, street performers, sumo wrestlers, toy sellers, and children, and are displayed on a 6-tiered lacquered wood display stand with a painted imperial palace at top. Included with the dolls are their original signed wooden storage boxes. Well preserved with minor loss of implements, missing 9 from original 100 persons. Showa Era, 1934-1935. The set was carved over an 18-month period in 1934-1935 at the Buddhist Temple Naka-in by Ikeno Tekkan (Tessen). Tessen, along with Hirata Goyo II, was a founding member of the Japanese Art Doll Movement of the 1930s and was noted for his finely painted all wooden dolls. The dolls are a copy of the famous "Hyaku-nin isshu" by Shimizu Ryukei (1659-1732) dated 1711 and in the collection of the Kyoto National Museum.