Clay doll. A sitting lady in Heian era court dress and hair-do, clutching a giant golden matsudake mushroom. She wears a bright red hakama and light blue kimono. The shape of the mushroom has a close resemblance to a penis and the sculpture definitely has an erotic meaning.
Hand-modeled, soft hollow roof tile clay, fired in a low-heat kiln, painted in cold-applied colors and gold.
Japan, 1960s or earlier.
H 5 in.
Colors somewhat smudged and chafed; frittings at the bottom edge; very fine and shallow crackle. Because of the cold application, the colors are fragile and easily wash away.
Rare subject matter in kawara ningyo.
Clay dolls were made all over Japan. The models and colors vary per region. They were made with the same clay as roof tiles and were originally sold in the Edo period as toys. Today they are sold as souvenirs and charms and the variety in subject matter has enormously diminished. Erotic subject matter is extremely rare and probably sold at fertility temples and shrines and during fertility festivals. Even rarer is that a fertility kawara ningyo made it outside the country. This piece comes from a collection of kawara ningyo, bought on a trip in Japan in roughly the 1970s.
