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:

  1. Joly, W.L. Behrens Collection, Part I, Netsuke, no. 2636, illustrated on pl. XXXV
  2. 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”

  1. Katchen, Netsuke 7, vol. I, pp. 86-87, no. K431

MR96