European, possibly 12th century

The Seattle Art Museum, Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund, inv. no. F.11.7;
its sale, Christie's New York, 24 February 2015, lot 510

Seattle Art Museum Annual Report, Seattle, 1963, p. 40; 
B. Rumpf, 'An Arty Puzzle', in Puget Soundings, October 1964, p. 9;
W. Cahn et al., Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections, II. New York and New Jersey, Middle and South Atlantic States, the Midwest, Western and Pacific States, Turnhout, 1999, p. 267 (as 'of doubtful authenticity')

The wood base of this intriguing stone fragment bears the stamp of the Japanese wood artist Kichizô Inagaki (1876-1951). His bases are celebrated as works of art for their own sake because each is created to fit its sculpture perfectly, sculpture and base ultimately unifying as a cohesive object. Beyond bearing the mark of such a distinguished woodworker (literally stamped with his artist name, 'Yoshio'), works mounted on bases by Inagaki share the provenance of having been on the Parisian art market between 1911 and 1951. While working for Joseph Brummer, Inagaki made prestigious connections among key dealers, collectors, and avant-garde artists in early 20th-century Paris, gaining important commissions. Auguste Rodin, for example, entrusted Inagaki with the creation of bases for his entire collection of antiquities in 1912. Inagaki also worked closely with the dealers Dikran Khan Kelekian, Charles Ratton, and Paul Guillaume.