An ivory netsuke of five minutely carved tiny blind men all over the elephant – one is touching the ear, another by the tail, one is on top and two are on top of each other by its side, trying to climb up. The comparatively huge elephant is well-carved, particularly the folds of his skin, and has a powerful expression.The ends of the saddle are inlaid with various precious stones. Signed underneath on the base, next to the central himotoshi, MASATOSHI.

Depicted is an old parable on truth and subjective interpretation. A group of blind men are touching and feeling an elephant for the first time and are trying to describe it. In the parable each man is feeling only one separate part of the elephant, such as the tusk, tail or side of the elephant. They then come together and discuss their version but find out that every man has a completely different view of what the elephant is, and they end up arguing and quarrelling, as they suspect dishonesty from the other men. It is an allusion to humans interpreting limited subjective experiences as absolute truths, and sometimes even violently defending them.

Category:

Netsuke

Subcategory:

-

Subject:

Animal

Material:

Ivory

Age/Country:

19th Century

Artist:

Masatoshi

Provenance/Owner:

Galerie Zacke

Signed:

signed

Type:

Katabori

Height:

35mm mm

Width:

mm

Depth:

mm

ID number: