AN IMPRESSIVE LACQUERED WOOD SCULPTURE, Japan, Meiji period, 19th century

h cm 186 x l cm 212

Depicting two finely lacquered oni (demons), rendered in vivid red and black tones, with fierce expressions and muscular bodies in motion as they carry a large dora (gong) in a ritual procession.

Catalog notes:
An almost identical sculpture is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, object number 89.4.2016a–e (link).