Tadashige
Nagoya. Late 19th century
A wood netsuke in the form of a copper hifuki daruma, a device used in traditional sunken hearth braziers to conserve wood and charcoal. About 5-8cms long, it was often shaped like Daruma. A tiny hole (in this case the mouth) expelled air when it was placed the heat of the fire.
It would then be carefully removed and plunged into cold water, the cold causing it to suck in water. It was then placed back by the fire where a thin steam would be forced through the small hole, damping the burning fuel and extending its useful life. Here the patriarch’s bulging eyes and puffed-up cheeks contrast comically with the tiny pursed mouth.
