Okimono or sculpture in the form of an abstract gibbon. Of hammered and cold-chiseled iron. Signed with a chiseled signature on the reverse by the artist: So (Kato Sogan, 1899 – 1995). Showa 31 or 1956.

With the tomobako or original box, inscribed on the exterior of the lid: Kotobuki Saru Okimono or Auspicious Gibbon Sculpture; then signed: Heian Sogan Saku or Made by Sogan of Kyoto, and sealed: Sogan. Inside the box is a postcard of the similar piece he exhibited at the 11th Nitten in 1956.

Full of the joyous spirit of the era, this lucky monkey curls with ribbon-like movement. Sogan’s playful abstraction is at once crisp and fluid, balancing the linear effect of ink painting with enfolding planes to suggest a three dimensional reality.