AN IVORY NETSUKE

Details
AN IVORY NETSUKE
EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)

Rendered in the form of a crouching skeleton, hands and arms placed on the drawn-up knees, the skull resting on the ribs and bones of the back and the feet crossed, unsigned, himotoshi formed by the natural spaces of the skeleton--2 in. (5.1 cm.) high

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED
Hurtig, Bernard. Masterpieces of Netsuke Art, (Tokyo and New York, 1973), p. 110


For another figure of a skeleton seated in the burial position see The Betty Jahss Collection of Netsuke: Part I, Sotheby's, London, 13 June 1991, lot 129. The catalogue cites another example in Raymond Bushell, adaptor, The Netsuke Handbook of Ueda Reikichi (Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, 1961), no. 64.