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Dogu (clay figurine)

Photo: Susan A. Cole

Dogu (clay figurine)

1000-400 BCE

Japanese

Aomori

The characteristically large eyes of this type of clay figure give it its nickname: “goggle dogu.” Made in the final stage of the 10,000-year Jomon period, most of these figures have been found scattered around or in refuse heaps. This has led scholars to speculate that they were discarded, rather than buried, after being used in ceremonies for transferring a person’s illness to the clay figures.
Terracotta
9 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 2 1/2in.
Floyd A. Naramore Memorial Purchase Fund
76.35
Photo: Susan A. Cole
location
Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Thousand Cranes: Treasures of Japanese Art, Feb. 5 - July 12, 1987.

Tokyo, Japan, Suntory Museum of Art, Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum, July 25 - Sept. 6, 2009 (Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Sept. 19 - Dec. 6, 2009; Kofu, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Dec. 23, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010; Atami, Japan, MOA Museum of Art, Mar. 13 - May 9, 2010; Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, May 23 - July 19, 2010).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.
Published ReferencesKawano, Kazutaka, Shigeo Iida, Rui Ichimoto, Shogo Osawa, Masanori Kawano, and Ryo Yamamoto. "Survey of Japanese and Oriental Archaeological Works in the Collection of the Seattle Asian Art Museum," MUSEUM, no. 705 (April 2023): 4 (color), 24 (b&w). Tokyo National Museum, 2023.
Cf. 51.40, 51.104, 51.105, 52.119, 56.118, 56.120, 57.39, 59.133, 65.18, 76.35, 88.25, 93.69, 97.1, 99.28.

Kawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 1

American Museum of Ceramic Art, "Robert Sperry: Bright Abyss", 2008, pg. 56

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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