**SOLD** A Remarkable and Rare Kurogaki Senryu-Zutsu Pipe Holder by Kaigyokusai Masatsugu

A Remarkable and Rare Kurogaki Senryu-Zutsu Pipe Holder by Kaigyokusai Masatsugu

The substantial persimmon wood holder in the form of an upward swimming catfish, the left gill enlarged to allow the passage of the pipe stem, the tail with a key hole shaped opening to secure the bowl of the pipe. The eyes are of back painted glass

The long gold rubbed inscription reads: midzunoye-tora oju naniwa tsumurain atari ni sumu kaigyokudō [made on commission in the year of the tiger by Kaigyokudo, living in the Tsumura quarter of Osaka]. This is consistent with the conventional information that the artist used the name Kaigyokudo until he was about 30 years old.

Signed kaigyokudō with kaō

Height 17 cm

The long gold rubbed inscription reads: midzunoye-tora oju naniwa tsumurain atari ni sumu kaigyokudō [made on commission in the year of the tiger by Kaigyokudo, living in the Tsumura quarter of Osaka]. This is consistent with the conventional information that the artist used the name Kaigyokudō until he was about 30 years old. Compare with an umimatsu sashi-netsuke of the same subject signed Kaigyokusai in Barry Davies Oriental Art, Netsuke Through Three Centuries, 1996, no. 117. Lot 66 in the 6th Wrangham sale was a smoking set by Kaigyokusai’s grandson Masateru. The pipe holder had none of the sinuous elegance or fine detail of the present holder. At the same time its signature clearly follows the pattern of the present work, but is far less elegantly incised. It is also dated to a year of the tiger, given as 1902. My assumption is that it was a copy made a full Zodiac cycle later than its model

MR4481