Ivory Netsuke of Two Monkeys

Ivory Netsuke of Two Monkeys by Okatori

A male and female huddled side by side, she picking a flea. The eyes are inlaid in pale horn

Signed. Kyoto, circa 1790

Length: 4.5 cm

Provenance:

M.T. Hindson, lot 210 in the Sotheby’s London sale

Since in a private French collection

Literature:

N.K. Davey, ‘Netsuke’ [Hindson collection], no. 203
Moss, ‘Zodiac Beasts and Distant Cousins’, 1993, no. 23
Moss, ‘Outside the Box’, 2004, no. 28

For a similar pair, see my book on the Paul and Michael Gross Collection, pp. 90-91

It is worth reading Meinertzhagen on how good a carver Okatori was (‘MCI’ p. 622), a point not lost on this collector who owned five netsuke by him

For a similar pair, see my book on the Paul and Michael Gross Collection, pp. 90-91