獏牙彫根付|Seated Baku (Mythical Creature Devouring Nightmares)

Unknown

18th century · Ivory · Asian Art

The baku is a mythical creature known to devour dreams and nightmares. It has the trunk of an elephant, the tail of an ox and the paws of a tiger .This piece is among the finest netsuke in the collection. Its surface is covered with slightly rounded protuberances, found on eighteenth-century representations of supernatural animals.

Artist

Unknown

Date

18th century

Medium

Ivory

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1910