Netsuke, two Sumo Wrestler, 19th century
ArtistRyomin,
active 19th century
Boxwood
Height4,7 cm
Place of originTokyo
About the workThe Japanese wrestling match known as sumộ is a common netsuke motif. Sumộ has ist origins in Japan's early history and was long the only form of public entertainment that the nobility were allowed to attend. As small figures, called Netsuke, they were used as counterweights to attach containers for medicine, tobacco or money to the belt of the kimono, known as the "obi". Predominantly made of ivory and boxwood, the objects were first created in the seventeenth century and evolved into status symbols. When Japan opened up to the West in the 1860s, kimonos went out of fashion and so did netsuke.
AccessionGift of Bruno Werdelmann 2004
Provenance[...]; bis 25.10.2004 Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Bruno Werdelmann (1920 – 2010), Ratingen; 25.10.2004 erworben durch Schenkung von Bruno Werdelmann
Inventory numberP 2005-324
