Shoki(chang Kuo) And Demons In Gold-stained Bronze. Edo Japan.

The terrible deity is represented standing preparing to kill a demon child that he holds firmly by the collar. The sculpture is superb, Shoki is theatrical his face is caricatured, the child is panicked and wriggles desperately as for the demon mother, she falls to her knees to implore the god's pity. Despite being an evil demon this tense, offered, imploring mother is moving. The three characters are cast in lost wax separately they are stained with gold. The gilding is of good quality, it is a hot gilding, with mercury. The chiseling is excellent. There is a particularity that we had never noticed on a Japanese work concerning the nanako background, in fact usually it is made up of tiny circles, here it is tiny discs, this could tell us about a specific region, it is unlikely that a goldsmith used this tool alone in all of Japan. It is a very rare or even unique subject. The child is held in the hand of the god but slightly mobile, the mother is separated, she is held against Shoki's thigh by a simple tenon. Good condition, slight wear Shoki's right arm split. The sword partly missing. Height: 377mm