KYOKA: A NEGORO-STYLE LACQUER BUGAKU MASK NETSUKE DEPICTING HEISHITORIBy Kyoka, signed Kyoka 万年 Japan, early 20th centuryPublished: Bushell, Raymond (1985) Netsuke Masks, pl. 16The wood finely lacquered in red and black in the Negoro style with an amusing expression revealing a state of inebriation, the mouth agape in a gleeful laugh, the pierced eyes almost closed, the deep wrinkles neatly incised. The reverse with a central himotoshi bar inscribed Tamukeyama jinjia zo men KYOKA mo (Kyoka copied this mask from that in the treasury of the Tamukeyama Shrine).HEIGHT 4.1 cmCondition: Very good condition with surface wear and expected minor flaking to red lacquer.Provenance: Ex-collection Raymond Bushell. Sotheby's, 21 March 2001, New York. European collection P. Jacquesson, acquired from the above.Heishitori is a comic relief figure in Bugaku, appearing in the Kotokuraku dance as a wine servant who filches cup after cup of the wine intended for guests until he is as drunk as the guests are thirsty.Tamukeyama is one of the names for the hill on which the Todaiji temple at Nara stands, hence the present netsuke is a copy of an original Bugaku mask.Literature comparison: Compare a near-identical mask netsuke by the same artist, illustrated by Lazarnick, George (1981) Netsuke & Inro Artists, and How to Read Their Signatures, vol. 1, p. 685. Another closely related heishitori mask netsuke, signed Kyosai (with the note “Previously recorded as Kyoka”), illustrated in Sagemonoya (2004) Sleeping Beauties, p. 105, no. 70. Compare also a lacquered wood heishitori mask dated 18th-19th century in the collection of the Penn Museum, object number 19872.