A JAPANESE LACQUERED WOOD HAKO NETSUKE OF AN AWABI SHELL

A JAPANESE LACQUERED WOOD HAKO NETSUKE OF AN AWABI SHELL

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The shell realistically carved with barnacles and other incrustations rendered in green porcelain, the underside and interior in gold nashiji and maki-e lacquer, the flesh of the mollusc with a two character signature for Keisai and a red seal mark for tsugu, 4.8cm max. (2)

Cf. F Meinertzhagen, The Meinertzhagen Card Index on Netsuke in the Archives of the British Museum, Part A, p.320, for another netsuke by Keisai. The author mentions that Keisai used the same wood as artists Joso and Somi (Soko), suggesting a possible connection between Keisai and the So School of netsuke carving.