Project Description
Solid Guri Lacquer Mask Netsuke of Sankojo, by Matsuki Hōkei
Well carved and showing the layers of variegated lacquer, the chin with holes imitating those for a beard in an actual theatrical mask
Signed: Hōkei to. Circa 1900
Height: 3.7 cm
Fuld lists ten mask netsuke by this most accomplished of lacquerers. Of those, only one is guri lacquer, the rest all being tsuishu. Collectors and dealers alike delight in being able to claim to possess a unique piece. So it was that S.L. Moss wrote that the aforementioned guri gigaku Ryō-ō mask from the Elly Nordskog collection (no. 109) was the only one they knew. It was at the time. Now we know two
MR4732
