Vintage Japanese Sosaku Kokeshi entitled: “Kurōbā no ko” | Clover Child by Watanabe, Masao
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Dimensions: 10-1/2”h (4lbs)
This RARE and LARGE Kokeshi represent a young girl, with a quite unusual and exaggerated egg-like shaped head for which the piece is made of solid beech wood and extremely heavy. The head has a wisp of bangs in black and done in a sumi-e’ technique, with simple modest downturned eyes and red noses. The top of the head, and on the back, is painted in green representing the fields of clover, (this application is very light so as to allow the natural golden color of the beech wood “Buna-zai”) to show through. Her body has a very light suggestion of a three leaf clover with horizontal sumi-e’ red strips on her clothing. The doll has a clear lacquer finish that accentuates the wood from which it is made and sealed with a type of natural clear candle wax, (Rosoku no ro). The doll is signed and stamped by Watanabe-san as well as the title in script.
This Tanka, (long poem), Watanabe associated this poem with the creation of this series of dolls:
“It’s all I have to bring today
This, and my heart beside
This, and my heart, and all the fields
And all the meadows wide
Be sure you count — should I forget to tell
This, and my heart, and all the Bees which in the Clover dwell.”
Watanabe-san is a multiple award winner for his dolls throughout Japan and has a permanent exhibit at the Nuremberg Toy Museum in Germany. To read more about this artist and his work go to: https://mingeiarts.com/collections/artisan-woodworker-watanabe-masao-1917-2007
Condition: Excellent condition exhibiting the wonderful lathe-turning and application of color producing a natural, aged patination and meticulous care. There are no missing elements, a few scratches from aging and daily use. The doll retains the original craftsmanship, meeting the standards of the collector of Sosaku Kokeshi.
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Artisan | Woodworker: Watanabe, Masao | 1917-2007
Biographical History:
Watanabe-san is considered to be one of the greatest Sosaku Kokeshi artists in all of Japan. Born in Fukushima, Watanabe-san studied under Traditional Yajirou Master Sato, Tatsuo of Miyagi Prefecture. Arguably, the most popular and prolific of the 20th/c Sosaku Kokeshi artists, he began his craft in the early 1950s. His most famous Kokeshi themes are that of ‘innocence’ (Mushin), and his doll entitled: Chigo Zakura (Cherry Blossom Child) won the Minister’s Award and was presented to the Beatles in 1965, after their appearance in Japan with Sir Joseph Lockwood, Chairman of EMI Record Distributors, England. A multiple award winner from 1963-1981 in Kokeshi competitions around the world (Prime Minister's prizes for the works of "Chigozskura" in 1963 and "Shojo" in 1981), along with numerous prizes by the Modern Kokeshi Artist Association and JETRO. He held two exhibitions in Japan and was exempt from the examination of the All Japan Kokeshi Contest, a Member of the Nippon Kokeshi Artistic Handicraft Association. His works are permanently exhibited at the Nuremberg Toy Museum in Germany.
Collector's note – descriptive qualities, standard characteristics & ornamentation styles:
Of all the Kokeshi the emphasis is on the color of the natural wood and texture, and his diversity of form is the most recognizable characteristic of his dolls. The representation of clothing is seen in the use of the diverse rendering of Kimono, Yukata, and Haori complemented by the painted details that are common throughout his works. Several dolls not only show wonderful color rendition as well as textured/ raised applications resembling Shibori, a type of tie-dyeing that gives texture to the garment. He also prominently features the rose and camellia as a central motif along with extremely expressive eyes throughout the range of ages represented in his works.
Signature Research:
We heard from our colleague at Soulportals KokeshiVillage, a website researching vintage and contemporary Kokeshi artists and signatures. It was brought to our attention that Watanabe subcontracted an artist named Sato Norio to reproduce large numbers of his Kokeshi in the 1960s because of an enormous number of orders for his award-winning design Chigazokaura. Watanabe's signature for pieces designed and crafted by him is shown on this page celebrating a number of his award-winning dolls. Nario's versions were entitled Plum Grove and approved/attributed to Masao but not crafted by him.