A wood netsuke of a Squirrel and vine by Tametaka (為隆).
Likely a representation from the artist's early career and to my knowledge it is the only example of its type. As Tametaka developed, so too did the vogue for zodiac netsuke in Japan which Tametaka specialised in satisfying for a large portion of his career. A detail shared with me from a Japanese enthusiast and researcher is that the artist died in 1794 and many of the netsuke that demonstrate the etched chomei are from his earlier career, whereas netsuke bearing the ukibori variety of signing were from his very last years of production when he had established a "school". This information appears to be supported by surveying and evaluating netsuke signed with the name Tametaka.
If one compares Rats (link), even Rabbits by Tametaka one can recognise characteristic traits shared with this Squirrel. In fact many years ago I was shown a Bat by Tametaka and the similarity to the Squirrel's head is quite incredible.
4.1CM
