【 The Concept 】
Three monkeys carry a bag so full it will not close. The coins are already spilling out. The scroll is already visible. The hammer is already halfway to falling. The bag is red, tied with a purple cord that has given up trying to hold everything in, and stamped with the character for fortune in gold. The monkeys do not seem concerned. In the tradition they come from, the monkey is the animal whose name sounds like the word for "drive away." Three of them working together drive away three times as much. What they carry in is everything that fills the space the bad luck left behind. The bag is proof that the space has been filled.
【 The Function 】
A ceramic figure. Sixteen centimeters tall, heavy for its size at 376 grams. Three monkeys in colored robes — orange, yellow, blue — each wearing a golden pointed cap, each leaning against a swollen red bag that rises above them like a hill. The bag's mouth is tied with a sculpted purple cord, but the contents have outgrown the container — gold coins, a red hammer, a white scroll, and a dark weight press upward through the opening. The character for fortune is brushed across the front in gold leaf. The monkeys do not look at any of it. They are too busy carrying.
【 The Texture 】
Ceramic, sealed in a matte finish that absorbs light rather than reflecting it. The monkeys' skin is smooth, pale, and unglazed — closer to chalk than porcelain. Their robes carry small gold plum blossoms stamped into the fabric. The bag is glossy where the gold dust settles and matte where the red paint shows through. The purple cord at the top is sculpted in three dimensions — tied, knotted, and tasseled. The coins spilling from the bag are flat gold discs. The hammer is painted red. The scroll is white. Every element is painted by hand — no two brushstrokes are the same width. The base is flat and unglazed. At 376 grams, it does not move unless you move it.
【 Presence 】
It is the most colorful and the heaviest object on any shelf. Red, gold, purple, orange, yellow, blue, white — seven colors in one piece. Three monkeys carrying one bag that refuses to stay shut. They do not compete with each other. They do not look at the fortune they are delivering. They arrive, they deposit, they ask nothing in return. Set it where you want the luck to land. The monkeys will handle the delivery.
Sourced from a private collection in western Japan.
【 The Concept 】
Three monkeys carry a bag so full it will not close. The coins are already spilling out. The scroll is already visible. The hammer is already halfway to falling. The bag is red, tied with a purple cord that has given up trying to hold everything in, and stamped with the character for fortune in gold. The monkeys do not seem concerned. In the tradition they come from, the monkey is the animal whose name sounds like the word for "drive away." Three of them working together drive away three times as much. What they carry in is everything that fills the space the bad luck left behind. The bag is proof that the space has been filled.
【 The Function 】
A ceramic figure. Sixteen centimeters tall, heavy for its size at 376 grams. Three monkeys in colored robes — orange, yellow, blue — each wearing a golden pointed cap, each leaning against a swollen red bag that rises above them like a hill. The bag's mouth is tied with a sculpted purple cord, but the contents have outgrown the container — gold coins, a red hammer, a white scroll, and a dark weight press upward through the opening. The character for fortune is brushed across the front in gold leaf. The monkeys do not look at any of it. They are too busy carrying.
【 The Texture 】
Ceramic, sealed in a matte finish that absorbs light rather than reflecting it. The monkeys' skin is smooth, pale, and unglazed — closer to chalk than porcelain. Their robes carry small gold plum blossoms stamped into the fabric. The bag is glossy where the gold dust settles and matte where the red paint shows through. The purple cord at the top is sculpted in three dimensions — tied, knotted, and tasseled. The coins spilling from the bag are flat gold discs. The hammer is painted red. The scroll is white. Every element is painted by hand — no two brushstrokes are the same width. The base is flat and unglazed. At 376 grams, it does not move unless you move it.
【 Presence 】
It is the most colorful and the heaviest object on any shelf. Red, gold, purple, orange, yellow, blue, white — seven colors in one piece. Three monkeys carrying one bag that refuses to stay shut. They do not compete with each other. They do not look at the fortune they are delivering. They arrive, they deposit, they ask nothing in return. Set it where you want the luck to land. The monkeys will handle the delivery.
Sourced from a private collection in western Japan.
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