Shishi (Lion) in glazed porcelain. Japan, second half of the 17th century

This Buddhist Lion is made of Arita hard-paste porcelain. Its paw rests on a sphere, indicating that it is a male; females have either their young or nothing under their paw. Furthermore, males have their mouths open because they pronounce the first letter of the Buddhist alphabet, while females, pronouncing the last letter, have their mouths almost closed. This work was created by modeling. We can date it with certainty to the second half of the 17th century. The statue was almost entirely left without glaze, only the round spots of the fur were painted underglaze in cobalt blue. All the rest of the body shows us the white porcelain which took, during firing, the beautiful orange color due to the presence of iron oxide in the clay still insufficiently purified at that time. A careful examination with binoculars shows us traces of red lacquer and gold powder. Initially the Lion was therefore red and gold stained with blue. It is an extremely rare work of which we know of only 5 other examples all preserved in Japan. Three are housed on the island of Kyushu in Arita, a couple at the National Ceramic Museum and a single male at the Municipal Museum of which he is the masterpiece, his photo is represented on the entrance tickets to the Museum. These three examples are all of lesser sculpted quality, the details are much less neat, and they are completely covered with dull enamels that do not correspond to what was done at that time in Arita. It is possible that these 3 Lions were also created without glaze and lacquered and that, once the lacquer was gone, they were enameled in the 19th century. A fourth Lion entirely enameled in the style of Kakiemon exists, we have an image of it but it must be housed in a private Japanese collection and we have never been able to access it. In photos it appears to be of excellent quality, the details seem as precise as on ours although it is difficult to judge because the enamels blur the details. Finally, the fifth is identical to ours, also unglazed, is a female and could be the companion of ours but here too the quality of the details is inferior; she is housed in the collection of His Highness the Mikado in Tokyo. We have all the references available. It should be remembered that during this period, it was extremely difficult to fire porcelain with complex and large shapes. These lions are the largest statues made in Arita in the 17th century. All other porcelain statues from this period are small and/or tubular.
Certainly, the famous elephants at the V&A and the British are almost as large, but their simple form (a body of five assembled tubes), sacrificing aesthetics, limits the risk of shattering during firing. The creation of these lions was a tour de force; moreover, all of them exhibit significant firing defects. Their elegance confirms that they were commissioned by demanding Japanese aesthetes and were not ceramics for export.

Many restorations have been carried out. The tail, as well as the front paw and a pompom, have been entirely replaced. A piece of hind leg is missing, as is a piece of ear. The work was certainly restored in Japan at the end of the 19th century (only a Japanese living in Arita could have known the exact shape of the tail).
Height: 45 cm

This is a major work, worthy of inclusion in the greatest collections.Let us remember our famous saying:
"If a good collector has a thousand objects; a great collector has only one."