A pair of Japanese painted and lacquered wood candlesticks in the form of oni
Each standing atop a flat rectangular base incised with scrolling vines, wearing short robes with cloud designs at the back as well as leaf-skirts. The one-horned oni further wearing a scaly undergarment covering the stomach, upper arms, and thighs, holding a baku coiled around his body, and with the mouth wide open revealing tongue and teeth. The two-horned oni with his bone-inlaid fangs is tearing a hole in its belly with both hands. Both show fierce expressions, their heads surmounted by a rising cloud base to hold the candle, one with a circular bone-inlaid fitting.
H. 37.5 & 38 cm
Provenance:
Noble collection, Germany (thence by descent)
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