THREE JAPANESE NETSUKE

THREE JAPANESE NETSUKE
MEIJI ERA, 19TH CENTURY

The first a square tsuishu lacquer hako netsuke, both sides decorated with pine branches on a cell diaper ground, signed Yosei saku on the inside, 4.5cm; another carved as bamboo shoots, the largest with wormholes revealing the small figure of Moso inside, one of the Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety, 4.8cm; the third possibly ebony, carved as a chrysanthemum flowerhead, the petals realistically curled up, signed Kyokusai (possibly for Tsukamoto Kyokusai) underneath, 3.6cm. (4)

Provenance: from the Mark and Elizabeth Harding Collection, South Africa. The bamboo shoot netsuke purchased from BCI Fine Art, 6 July 1991. A copy of the invoice is available.