Lot 3. An earthenware bust of a woman (shitotsumon dogu), late Jomon-early Yayoi period (5th-3rd century BCE); 4 3/8 x 5 7/8 in. (11 x 14.9 cm.). Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 20,000. Price realised USD 50,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021

Of low-fired reddish clay with black fire marks, the body of a woman gazing sky decorated with dots and punctate pattern, the applique balls on body indicates the breasts and female genital.

The results of the report on Thermoluminescene Analysis no. N121b23 obtained by the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University, are consistent with the dating of this lot.

Provenance: Kimura Naosuke, Aomori Prefecture.

Literature: Suntory Museum of Art, ed., Dogu to domen (Clay Figurines and Clay Masks) (Tokyo: Suntory Museum of Art, 1969), cat. no. 121.

Exibited: Suntory Museum of Art, “Dogu to domen (Clay Figurines and Clay Masks),” 1969.3.18-5.4.

Note: Most of Dogu figures with punctate patterns across its torso are from the late Final Jomon period but there are some rare examples also from early Yayoi period. An almost identical shitotsu dogu with decoration of dots excavated in Sunazawa, Aomori Prefecture is in the collection of Hirosaki City Board of Education, see Miho Museum, ed., Dogu, a Cosmos (Tokyo: Hatori Press, Inc., 2012), cat. no. 23.

Christie's. Japanese and Korean Art, New York, 16 march 2021