Posted 2 years ago
kwqd
(1187 items)
This Japanese wood carving is 4" long x 3" wide x 2,5" high. It is signed on the bottom and has the label of the Shirokiya department store on it. This department store has an interesting history. I bought this from a seller in Puyallup, WA, where a CWer with an interest in things Japanese lives. Curious to see if he was the seller! Seller's images, just couldn't wait to find out about a possible Puyallup connection. I lived a few miles from there in the late 1970s. No idea what the inscription on the bottom says, assuming it is the signature of the artist.
I have wanted to add a daruma doll/okimono to my collection for awhile and this is the first reasonably priced one that I have come across.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirokiya
"Hikotaro Omura opened a dry goods store at Nihonbashi in Edo, (now Tokyo) in August 1662. Omura called the store Shirokiya Gofukuten, a name that would last until the 20th century. Over the next few hundred years, the store slowly expanded, and as Japan entered the Meiji era, Shirokiya and its main rival at the time, Mitsukoshi, expanded into selling clothing and other goods in 1886. In 1903, Shirokiya opened a western-style department store, followed by the creation of a larger store down the street eight years later. "
Cool..it wasn't me..lol
Thanks dav2no1! I had to wonder!
Thanks for loving my daruma okimono Alfie21, Watchsearcher, dav2no1, Vynil33rpm, Jenni, Kevin, BHIFOS, vcal, fortapache and Searching1!
Thanks Karen!
Charming Daruma okimono. I love these too :)
By the way I think this style of chiseled wood carving is called 'itto bori'. If you search on that term, you'll find other examples. I like this style very much.
Thanks for your comments and the information, rhineisfine! This piece seems a bit more rustic that most itto bori carving that I looked at but I agree, it probably is, too.
Thanks for loving my Daruma carving RichmondLori, rhineisfine and Cisum!