Project Description
**SOLD** Wood Shishi Netsuke by Hoshin
A muscular short-legged creature seated on its hind quarters with the legs splayed, and turning with an alarmed expression accentuated by the double-inlaid eyes of dark pupils within ivory surrounds. It is a mass of muscle and hair
Signed on a slightly raised oval reserve beneath: Hoshin
Kyoto, circa 1780
Provenance:
Walter Behrens
Frederick Meinertzhagen, London, 1955
Julius and Arlette Katchen collection, Paris
Exhibited:
Embassy of Japan, London, In a Nutshell, 2013, no. 93 (illustrated p. 55 in the catalogue)
Literature:
- Joly, W.L. Behrens Collection, Part I, Netsuke, no. 2636, illustrated on pl. XXXV
- Meinertzhagen, The Art of the Netsuke Carver, 1956, no. 40, illustrated
The Meinertzhagen Card Index, p. 197, illustrated, with the effusive comment: “An outstanding masterpiece …. of superb workmanship, full of power and movement and beautifully carved in every way, the equal of any animal ‘netsuke’ in my collection”
- Katchen, Netsuke 7, vol. I, pp. 86-87, no. K431
MR96