(Reserved) A small wood study of a rodent, coiled into almost a ball. The feet and hands minutely carved, with a great deal of effort concentrated on appendages which follow the contours of the body, in addition, the anatomical accuracy on display, particularly on the feet is quite immense. Hairwork confidently incised on the surface. Convex eye sockets contain large black globes of horn. The himotoshi asymmetric, a small entrance hole connected to a larger circular hole which is excavated complete with an overhanging lip, which was a signature touch of the makers influences/master/s.
Signed: Masakazu in an oval reserve. 正一.
2.8cm High.
We have prepared a study on this artist which will be available shortly.
The artist is connected to; Hidemasa, Garaku and Masanao (often referred to as; of Kyoto).
Coiled rats are synonymous with the carvers of the Yamada (Ise) region. Carvers from this region, from the mid 19th century, produced them on a continuous basis. Long before this time, ball designs for netsuke were being made in other areas, for instance; Ogasawara Issai designed and likely made the cloth globe prior to 1781 (the design is illustrated in the Soken Kisho). This artist also produced ball-Shishi, as did his followers. Thus, ball designs, existed long before Yamada artists and likely also before Nagoya connected artists began coiling a rat into a ball for the model of a netsuke. To relegate all the examples of this design to the same category, potentially overlooks differing artist and regional characteristics, furthermore ignores the layers of historical importance that is present in our field.
Examples by; Horaku, Kagetoshi, Hakuryu and Masakazu are simply in a different league in terms of quality of manufacture and historical relevance.
Ex L & Y Laufer collection.
