A life-size bronze statue of Daikoku (大黒天)

Description:

Japan, Meiji Period, late 19th c.
H. 166 cm
Massively cast in several parts as Daikoku seated in a relaxed pose on a rice bale, raising his mallet with the right hand while holding a tama in his left hand. His face showing a joyous expression with large eyes and the mouth open in a cheerful smile. He is wearing a long robe.
From the collection of Dr C. Duisberg, acquired on his journey to Japan prior to 1930 - In his travel journal, Dr. Carl Duisberg reports on a visit to Kobe, where he discovered a special bronze figure in a small but exquisitely decorated shop owned by the Japanese Harashin: a ‘pot-bellied and jolly god of prosperity and well-being, called Daikoku, sitting on a rice sack’. When Duisberg asked the owner in English who this figure represented, he received an answer in German, accompanied by a mischievous smile: ‘The god of industry.’ As Chairman of the Association of German Industry, Duisberg felt obliged to acquire this bronze for his garden on the Rhine - Partial age damage and surface change due to many years of presentation in the park
Daikoku-ten (大黒天) is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune (Shichifukujin 七福神) in Japanese mythology and is primarily associated with wealth, prosperity and agricultural fertility. Originally a manifestation of the Hindu god Mahākāla, Daikoku was worshipped as an independent god of good fortune in the course of the syncretisation of Shintō and Buddhism in Japan. His iconographic features include the lucky hammer (uchide no kozuchi 打ち出の小槌), a sack full of treasures and rice bales, on which he is often depicted standing or, as here, sitting. These attributes symbolise his role as a donor of material wealth and spiritual happiness. Bronze has a long tradition in Japanese art and religion. Particularly in the Edo period (1600-1868), bronze statues of gods of fortune such as Daikoku-ten were used as symbols of protection and prosperity in temples, shrines and households.
This lot is subject to standard taxation: a premium of 24.5 % will be charged on the hammer price. Statutory VAT is payable on the hammer price plus premium.