Kitsune from the Edo Period

About the Item

According to Japanese folklore the fox, or kitsune, can assume human form to protect and trick humble country folk. Dating to the 18th century, this fox protects its own pup. Carved and painted with a dull black lacquer finish called urushi, it’s pleasing from every angle, and is in its way a small masterpiece. The sweeping curve of the snarling fox’s body is countered by the undulations of the playful pup. These generalized forms are countered by finely carved details, like the pupils in slit eyes, the sharp teeth and nails, and the tiny paws that sink into a luxuriant tail. The sculpture was in the collection of Lucy Truman Aldrich of Providence, Rhode Island. Most of her Japanese works were purchased from Yamanaka, then a four-hundred-year-old firm in Osaka, Japan, with branches in New York, Cleveland, Bar Harbor, and Newport (which was only a few miles from Truman's country estate). Over the years Yamanaka cataloged her burgeoning collection, and on the underside of our sculpture is a label that bears her initials and an inventory number. Aldrich was born, lived, and died in her family’s mansion on Benevolent Street. In the 1930s she gave her collections of Asian textiles and European porcelains to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Her remaining treasures passed down through the family of her sister, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, the modern art collector and one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art. Lucy was a spinster, a bluestocking, and deaf, but she was no drudge. She traveling through Asia in search of treasure while wearing Paris couture and Cartier jewelry. One night in 1923, on a Peking-bound train, she and her fellow passengers were kidnapped by bandits, marched off in bedclothes, and held for ransom. Two weeks later she escaped in a rainstorm, and hid in a farmer's doghouse. On returning to Providence, it was assumed she’d learned her lesson that a woman’s place is in the home. But when the Chinese government paid her compensation, she booked passage on her next Asian buying trip. By of way of an explanation to the shocked locals she remarked, “I’d rather be a Buddhist than a Baptist.”

Dimensions:

Height: 9.5 in (24.13 cm)Width: 6.5 in (16.51 cm)Depth: 5 in (12.7 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Wood,Carved

Place of Origin:

Japan

Period:

18th Century

Date of Manufacture:

circa 1750

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.