An ivory netsuke of a puppy playfully chewing a straw hat (kasa).
This netsuke is attributed to the circle of Ogasawara Issai, one of the most influential yet enigmatic figures in the formative history of netsuke carving. Issai himself appears to have remained anonymous throughout his career. While the first edition of the Sōken Kishō (1781) records and illustrates Issai, a later edition records that he served a deputy to a lord of Kishu, a circumstance that may explain the absence of signatures on works associated with him.
Research into Issai's oeuvre increasingly suggests that his designs, carving methods and artistic vocabulary exerted a profound influence on the development of eighteenth-century netsuke. Strong stylistic parallels can be observed with artists including Masanao (often referred to as 'of Kyoto'), Natsukisai Hidemitsu, Hidemasa, Kagetoshi, Kiyokatsu and numerous others. Consequently, when this netsuke is described as being from the "circle of Ogasawara Issai", the attribution embraces this broader artistic tradition and the network of carvers whose work reflects his influence.
It is also noteworthy that Inaba Tsūryū, compiler of the Sōken Kishō, accorded Issai an exceptional degree of prominence, arguably elevating his reputation above that of any other netsuke artist recorded in the work. More than a century later, scholars including Professor Yokoi, F. M. Jonas and Ueda Reikichi likewise recorded that Issai's fame surpassed that of his contemporaries, confirming the enduring esteem in which he was held within Japan.
For much of the twentieth century, Western scholarship largely overlooked Ogasawara Issai, reflecting a tendency to associate artistic importance with signed works. As research has expanded and greater emphasis has been placed upon stylistic analysis, Issai's pivotal role in the evolution of netsuke carving has become increasingly apparent. This netsuke stands as an excellent example of the artistic tradition that developed around one of the formative masters of the art. Current research places Ogasawara Issai at the centre of the earliest stylistic tradition from which many of the leading eighteenth-century schools emerged.
