Project Description
Rare Dark Wood Netsuke of an Eagle and Monkey, by Bokugyūken Toshiharu (Hakata, died 1859)
The monkey pinned to the ground, desperately grasping a wing while the eagle pecks at its arm
Signed in ukibori characters in a sunken reserve: Bokugyūken
Height: 3.4 cm
This unprolific artist from Hakata, near Fukuoka on the northern coast of the island of Kyushu, was the teacher of the better known and fêted Otoman and of Toshimitsu, who treated the same subject in ivory. The latter netsuke was sold by me twice
Provenance:
Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris (Ader/Portier), 25th May 1987, lot 118 (FF70,000)
Purchased by Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London
Bob Chasin, CA
Susan Atchley, Los Angeles, sold by order of her executors
Literature:
Illustrated in a Sydney Moss advertisement in the Netsuke Kenkyukai Study Journal, vol. 7., no. 3, p. 35
MR1496
