Lot 2. An earthenware bust of a woman (shakoki dogu), late Jomon period (5th-3rd century BCE); 3 ¾ x 2 ¾ in. (9.5 x 7 cm.). Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 43,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021

Of low-fired reddish clay with black fire marks, the body of a goggle-eyed figure, decorated with incised details and scrolling cord pattern, wearing head-ornament with inscised designs.

The results of the report on Thermoluminescene Analysis no. N121b24 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. 122.

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

Note: This figure displays the typical decoration of a shakoki dogu (goggle-eyed figure), one of the two mainstream types of clay figurine made at Kamegaoka in Aomori prefecture during the Final Jomon period. Modelled using incised cord marks and distinctive features of the small and narrow eyes suggest the date of this figure to be latter half of the ‘goggled-eye’ period. A similar shakoki dogu with small and narrow eyes is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig.1).

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