λ A JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE OF A BLIND MASSEUR

λ A JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE OF A BLIND MASSEUR
MEIJI ERA (1868-1912)

Carved as a blind masseur holding a strengthening stone, a tumour on the back of his head, his lifeless eye inlaid, signed Gyokkei in a tablet at the base, 4.5cm.

Provenance: formerly in the Mark and Elizabeth Harding Collection.

Cf. F Meinertzhagen, The Meinertzhagen Card Index on Netsuke in the Archives of the British Museum, Part A, pp.84-85 for a biography of Gyokkei and two other examples of blind masseurs by the same carver.

Ivory Act 2018 exemption certificate, ref. HBRWK6RL.