a very rare Kakiemon model of a baku or elephant, late 17th century

reclining with its head and trunk raised and turned slightly to the left, its spotted back with a decorative blanket showing a stylised lotus and karakusa, all painted in vivid blue, green, yellow and black enamels and iron-red, its clawed feet in blue

A very similar example, in the Groninger Museum, Groningen, is illustrated in The Voyage of Old Imari Porcelain, exhibition catalogue,  Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Arita, 2000, no.239 and in Christian J.A. Jorg, Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections,  no.345
A similar model was sold in these rooms, 13th November, 1985

The baku or Shirokina Kami is a mythical creature with a proboscis like an elephant's trunk, two tusks, a spotted hide and clawed feet. It feeds on the bad dreams of men

This model may have been intended for use as a water-dropper