A JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE MEIJI 1868-1912 Carved as a snail slithering over the top of a discarded...

A JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE

MEIJI 1868-1912

Carved as a snail slithering over the top of a discarded water bucket, the nails inlaid in horn and with the grain of the wood finely carved, signed Masanao underneath, probably for Masanao of Yamada (Ise Province), 3cm.

Cf. V Atchley and N Davey, The Virginia Atchley Collection of Japanese Miniature Arts, p.69, n.74, for a comparable netsuke of a snail on a water bucket signed Masanao.