Project Description

Celebrated Large Wood Netsuke of a Shishi

The large headed lion crouching with its right forepaw raised, a loose ball in its mouth. The tail is luxuriant and well carved, the underside of the legs incised across with distinctive lines. The eye pupils are dark horn inlays. The dark stained wood is highly polished

Unsigned. Second half of the 19th century

Provenance:

Donald Mendelson
Sotheby’s Los Angeles, 22nd August 1981, lot 147
George and Verna Lazarnick
Eskenazi, London
Since in a private European collection
Literature:
G. Lazarnick, Netsuke and Inro Artists …, vol. 1, illustrated on pp. 8 and 88, with attribution to Garaku
Eskenazi, London, Japanese netsuke from the Lazarnick collection, 1990, no. 4
MR4637