Monkeys playing Go - netsuke carved from bone

Netsuke Three monkeys playing checkers "go" was created based on the work of the Japanese master Shinkeisai Masatoshi in the XIX century.
Thumbnail size 41 x 31 mm. The original is in the Hermitage.
The miniature was carved by a professional craftsman from the horn of an elk with tinting.

In urban art of the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), the monkey often acts as a parody "substitute" for a particular character. In this case , several interpretations are possible. It is most correct to consider this a parody of the existing parody of the three great thinkers of the Far East: Confucius, Buddha and Lao Tzu. They are usually depicted (often in the guise of a monkey) around a barrel of sake, expressing various feelings about what they have drunk. This should illustrate in a "reduced" form the idea of a single source of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and their different design. In this case, the subtext is the same.

Elk horn - natural noble bone. Eco-friendly material unique in its value. Moose shed their horns every year. Collected in the forest, they store the vital heat, and since ancient times are the most popular natural raw materials for artistic processing.

Beautiful, complex texture color with different shades gives bones unusual beauty. The horn of elk is durable, besides, products made of elk antler easy to care for and do not require special storage conditions.

Netsuke is a miniature sculpture, a work of decorative and applied art, which is a small carved keychain. The figure can be implemented as an okimono — without holes for the cord.