Seiyodo Bunshojo (1764-1838)
Iwami, circa 1810
A boar’s tusk carved with a centipede, its body twisting as it inches it way towards the tip. In a typically reflective way of the Iwami carvers, the subject of a fallen tusk and arthropod suggest the impermanence and decay of nature.
Signed with inscription: 石見州 可愛河西、青陽堂文章女 彫刻
“Iwami shu (Iwami no kuni), Enokawa nishi, Seiyodo Bunshojo chokoku”
[Carved by Seiyodo Bunshojo, west of the Eno River, Iwami Province]
Length: 9.9 cm
