Unsigned – Walnut Daruma

A natural walnut carved to depict Daruma, his face full of dismay at being roused from his 9 year meditation. The irregular surface of the shell replicates the monk’s crumpled and tattered robes. The eye pupils are inlaid in dark horn.

Regarded with humorous affection in Japan, the depiction of Daruma wrapped in his robes so that no limbs are visible and with a rounded base like a tumbler doll is a familiar one. It carries the exhortation to persevere in the face of difficulty: “fall down seven times, get up eight”.