Japanese Works of Art - 12th November 2024

Lot 244

A JAPANESE BRONZE OKIMONO OF NINOMIYA SONTOKU

Estimate £200 - £300 | Hammer £227

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Description

A JAPANESE BRONZE OKIMONO OF NINOMIYA SONTOKU
MEIJI OR LATER, 20TH CENTURY

Typically depicted as a boy, carrying an adze over his shoulder and a large straw hat on his back, reading a book incised with a passage from the Daikoku (Great Learning), one of the Four Books of Confucianism; signed Morimitsu saku for Kanamori Moshimitsu to the back, 30.5cm. (2)

Ninoyama Sontoku (1787-1856), also known as Ninoyama Kinjirō, was a famous agriculturalist, philosopher and economist. Statues depicting him as a boy studying are often seen near Japanese schools.