Japanese Works of Art - 1st July 2020

Lot 356

THREE JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE OF HORSES MEIJI PERIOD

Estimate £400 - £600 | Hammer £2200

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Description

THREE JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE OF HORSES

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The largest depicted standing on a rectangular base and with inlaid dots to its flanks, signed Okatomo Shogen saku with kakihan underneath; another carved as two horses, one lying on the ground while the other grazes by its side; the third a smaller equine, recumbent and with its head turned to the side, signed Minko with kakihan, 6.8cm max. (3)

Provenance: from the collection of a lady of title, and thence by descent.

Cf. F Meinertzhagen, The Meinertzhagen Card Index on Netsuke in the Archives of the British Museum, Part B, p.739, where a netsuke similar to the largest one is illustrated and discussed, possibly this very piece.