Haunting Old Carved (Bedpost?) Doll in Orange and Blue study Chic and cheerful is this

Chic and cheerful is this vintage Japanese (circa early 1940s) hand-painted ceramic wall pocket in the shape of a duck

with just a bit of darkening to the brass

and his now highly valued paintings are in the collections of the Met

Dows' biography is fascinating

I'm not sure if the ends were eaten or just worn away

Haunting Old Carved (Bedpost?) Doll in Orange and Blue study Chic and cheerful is thisI'm guessing that the leather strip threaded through the cheeks of this old primitively carved figure once formed a loop by which it hung, but I found it like this, and think it lends a whole 'nother level of character and drama as it hangs: in part evincing a mustache, but to me feeling rather more like streaming tears. And while it seems this could be a bedpost doll, to me it now has all of the presence of a fetish doll, as if holding otherworldly