Inkwell; Japan 19th century.

Inkwell; Japan 19th century.
Carved wood.
Measurements: 8,5 x 19 x 5 cm.
Carved in wood and conceived as a small container for ink or writing utensils, the object takes the form of a fantastic creature of protective character, probably inspired by the shishi or guardian lions of Sino-Japanese tradition, figures associated with spiritual protection and the safeguarding of sacred and domestic spaces.
The piece shows a strongly expressive hand carving, visible in the schematic modeling of the animal, its exaggerated facial features and the ornamental simplification of the body. This type of hybrid representation between the zoomorphic and the fantastic was frequent in Japanese popular art and in everyday objects related to writing, a practice that occupied a central place in the intellectual and administrative culture of the late Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji era.