**SOLD** Rare wood netsuke of Raiden on a drum

Rare wood netsuke of Raiden on a drum by Awataguchi 

Crawling onto the drum with a stick in one hand. His eyes are inlays of dark buffalo horn, as are the studs of the drum

Signed: Taguchi. Edo, circa

4.1 cm across

Provenance: 

Sale, Sotheby’s London, 1st June 1981, lot 45

Teddy Hahn, Darmstadt

Information:

Fuld lists only 7 netsuke signed Taguchi, and 23 signed Awataguchi.  Regardless of whether or not they are the same artist, both are rare

Literature: 

Barry Davies Oriental Art, ‘Netsuke from the Teddy Hahn Collection’, 1996, no. 143

MR2770