SHUGETSU I: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF TEKKAI SENNIN Lot 191 - NE0422By Hara/Higuchi Shugetsu I, signed Shugetsu 舟月Japan, Edo (Tokyo), late 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868)Powerfully sculpted as the immortal Tekkai wearing a voluminous and elaborately flowing robe with a bag slung over his bag and a hyotan (double gourd) attached to his waist. The immortal is depicted here as an emaciated beggar with heavy skin folds and an extraordinarily well-carved, lamenting expression. In one hand, tucked under his arm, he is holding his characteristic cane, the other hand is tightly clenched into a fist as he looks upwards and presses his lips forward, exhaling his soul with his last efforts. Large himotoshi through the bag in the back which also houses the boldly incised two-character signature SHUGETSU.HEIGHT 7.3 cmCondition: Good, worn condition. One foot repaired and a small repair to the edge of the satchel. Provenance: Ex-collection Rene Vittoz (1904 - 1992).Tekkai Sennin is the Japanese adaptation of one of the Eight Chinese Immortals (Baxian). He was thought to be capable of leaving his body, sometimes traveling for extended periods. On one occasion, he asked a disciple to watch over his body and instructed him to burn it if his spirit did not return in seven days. On the sixth day, however, the disciple’s mother died, so he burned his master’s body and went home. Returning on the seventh day, Tekkai’s spirit found his body gone, leaving him no choice but to adopt the corpse of an emaciated beggar that he found beside the road.Literature comparison:Compare to a closely related wood netsuke by Shugetsu I, formerly in the H. G. Beasley collection, sold at Sotheby’s, Fine Netsuke & Ojme, 14 March 1984, London, lot 32.