Dark Stained Wood Netsuke of the Nuye, by Hideyuki (born 1941)

Dark Stained Wood Netsuke of the Nuye, by Hideyuki (born 1941)

Standing dressed in a kimono, so that the only clue to its feline aspect is in the paws, the head of its snake tail cupped in a hand; the eyes large double inlays of light horn with dark pupils

Incised signature: kosei.  The inlaid gold signature panel a replacement, signed: hideyuki.

Height: 5.3 cm

With original tomobako, inscribed in Japanese on the outside of the cover: nuye, signed on the inside: kosei hideyuki, with red seal hideyuki

Provenance:

Bernard Hurtig, sold to Jacques Carré, October 1975

Max Rutherston Ltd., 2017

Since in a private UK collection

Presumably inspired by the Tametaka model from the Vever, Roosevelt, Lazarnick and Kurstin collections, illustrated in Lazarnick’s ‘Netsuke and Inro Artists…’, vol. II, p. 1074, and on the back cover. It was sold by Bonhams New York for $82,250 in the Kurstin sale, 16th December 2022, lot 34