Antique Japanese Samurai, Horse and Retainer Doll Set

• 
• 

Japanese antique Samurai doll on horse with loyal retainer on stand. Very good quality set from Taisho period (may be little older, to late Meiji or early 1900's). The heads/faces have the gofun finish (egg shell and glue), the hands and feet are carved wood, the eyes are glass. The horse is made of paper mache.

The samurai with horse measures 11-3/8" tall, not including his hair or helmet. His accessories include a sword that is removable from it's fur covered sheath, a knife, bow and arrows (missing feathers) and helmet. The retainer, one knee bent, measures 6-1/2" tall and includes a sword, knife and spear. The stand is black lacquered with a black sand like finish on top (more realistic like earth) and measures approximately 14" x 7-3/8" x 2-1/8" tall.

The condition is very good. The samurai has a scratch in the finish on his left eyebrow and while looking at that through a magnifying glass a fine hair line crack on the bridge of the nose was noticed. His left thumb had been broken and glued. The bow has been glued to the hand (glue not original) and there is excess glue showing. His silk pants is worn in areas with age. The retainer's right forefinger was broken and glued. He may have been moved to the left on the stand about an inch. The horse has a right ear that is a little bent up. It was originally was attached to the stand by pegs through the bottom of the feet. Only one original peg remains. Sometime later, string around the bottom of the legs with additional pegs were added to keep it in place.

Please understand that I try to describe everything that I see wrong as the customer can't pick up the item and examine for themselves. All the the flaws on this set are very minor, and most would probably go unnoticed. Some can be fixed, i.e. new pegs on the horse's feet, a little pencil color on the finger cracks, etc.

This set has a lot of very nice details, like metal trim, some with designs pressed into it and a black lacquered arrow case with gold design. Additional pictures are available upon request.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 19 November, 2007.