Project Description
Wood netsuke of a shishi by Naito Toyomasa (Tamba, 1773-1856)
Standing with its front paws on a large spherical egg from which emerges a newborn pup, both animals with eyes of mid-toned horn, drilled with pupils. The adult has a loose ball in its mouth
Signed: Toyomasa. Sasayama, circa 1840
Height: 4.2 cm
Provenance:
Sotheby’s London, 12th June 1986, lot 285
Harriet Szechenyi collection
Her sale at Bonhams London, 8th November 2011, lot 31
Private collection, Russia
Exhibited:
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, ‘Netsuke, Japanese Miniature Sculptures from Private Collections’, July-October 2016,no. 10 in the catalogue
Literature:
Rosemary Bandini, ‘Shishi and other Netsuke’, 1999, p. 16, no. 22
MR2635