Netsuke

A polychrome glazed porcelain netsuke depicting an ape dressed as a sanbaso dancer with the characteristic bubble tree, suzu, and the equally typical conical hat with twelve horizontal stripes as a reference to the months of the year, in front of a red sun. The dance was popular, both as a street performance and also performed by monkeys with which monkey trainers travelled through the country, or as a prelude to a no performance and in that case performed by the Okina figure, an old man.