(SOLD)A very large antler (or bone) netsuke carved in the form of a portion of a human skull, with the addition of a snail crawling over the top left front aspect.
Signed; 雪斎 Sessai (1820 – 1879)
8.1cm Wide.
This highly individual netsuke in both subject and treatment has a deep-rooted meaning to the philosophically minded.
Universally, the skull has a deathly connotation.
The snail, which travels very slowly, almost at an unnoticeable speed has become synonymous with the passage of time. Time, like the snail, creeps continuously forwards. Though ultimately all life succumbs to the law of time; everything travels from a point of existence to non-existence upon the fabric of time. Life is finite. Irrelevant of how long or short a life might be, impermanence unites everything.
This may sound quite melancholy; however, it also can inspire one to ‘live life in every breath’.
For myself, it is simply a quite awe-inspiring sculpture, rich in meaning and craft, from the hands of a true master of the art.
Ex: Petra Dorman collection.
Ex: Private European collection.
