Ein Drache ohne Schuppen
A Rain Dragon, Mito
Two Mito menuki in gold, each a rain dragon carved in the round. Laid side by side they mirror each other, the tails curling outward at either end. On each the head lies near the middle, turned back over the coils and framed by a curling mane. The body is smooth and bare of scales. It runs out into a long tail that ends in a single curl. Claws reach down beneath it, as if to grip the hilt.
The NBTHK paper names the subject amaryu, the rain dragon, and describes the work as gold, carved in the round, katachi-bori. It attributes the menuki to the Mito school and names no maker.
The Sannenzaka Yasaka Museum in Kyoto describes the Mito makers as known for finely detailed relief and for lifelike animals, dragons and tigers among them. In the rain dragon the detail is held back. The mane is worked closely. The rest is left smooth, so that the gold itself carries the form.
Menuki. Mumei, Mito. Kin-ji, katachi-bori. Amaryu-zu. Edo-Zeit. NBTHK Hozon. Privatsammlung, erworben in Europa, zuvor in einer europäischen Sammlung.
In the collection
- Type
- Tosogu › Menuki
- School
- Mito
- Period
- Edo-Zeit
- Material
- Kin
- Motif
- Drachen und Fabelwesen
