Asian Arts | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board

Curious about this Statue/Figure. It stands 6 ¾” Tall. It is solid Brass with a Natural Dark Patina. The Brass is visible in several small areas where it has worn. The Head portrays some type of Animal and the Torso has Shoulders with Short Arms and Five Digits on each “hand”. The Bottom is marked with Symbols which I have no clue about. I have no info on its Provenance as I don’t remember where I got it. Interpreting the Makers Mark(s) is what I’m most interested in knowing.

This is a legendary auspicious creature known as a Badger aka Raccoon dog or Tanuki in Japan. the Following is extracted from an early 20th century book on Japanese arts, with the first image below being of a Tanuke netsuke from that book and a second with two views of a Japanese ceramic bank in the form of one from my collection. Use your imagination.

Best regards,

Bill H.

"JAPAN AND ITS ARTS" BY MARCUS B. HUISH, VICE-CHAIRMAN, JAPAN SOCIETY, LONDON, 1912 - CHAS SCRIBNER & SONS, NEW YORK

No one who has studied the Art of the country will be surprised to hear that the fox (kitsune) and the badger, or racoon-faced dog (tanuki), are everywhere abundant. Each is credited with the power of assuming other forms; the tanuki is often drawn sitting on its haunches, drumming on its stomach apparently to the moon, but in reality in the hope of misleading travellers by this delicious sound ; it also hides amongst lotuses with the same intent (No. 116),and acts in legend the part of pantaloon to the fox's harle- quin. The badger resembles the American more than the European species : its face is doglike, its tail short and bushy, and it metamorphoses itself into inanimate objects, such as articles of furniture."

Interesting. Any thoughts on its age and/or potential value? Thanks for the reply!

Comparing your potentially old bronze to a more recent ceramic model doesn’t compute very well. The one I show here is An inexpensive eBay trinket. Here’s a live auction comparison with pictures. If someone can translate the mark, it might reveal age.

Best regards,

Bill H.



URL Title :Tanukl

figuring the exercise would benefit both of us, I devoted some time later to additional research and below provide some more links to Tanuki auction results and a picture from the embedded link. As I said before, the better condition old bronze ones are tops with bidders, depending on their condition.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/43297928_18th-c-japan-bizen-ware-sake-vessel-in-form-of-tanuki

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/55806584_antique-japanese-bronze-okimono-tanuki

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/50542319_tanuki-figure-japanese-bronze-sculpture

Best regards,

Bill H.



URL Title :Bronze tanuki

Thanks for the links. I'm confident that mine is Brass with a Dark Patina. The key to this piece MAY be the markings on the bottom. If I learn anything new I'll post it here. Thanks again!

Oops, forgot to mention, the mark is written in a Japanese form I can't translate but talented others in the forum can.

Bill H.

Asian Arts | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board