SIGNED MASAKATSU (D. 1899, YAMADA, ISE PROVINCE), EDO/MEIJI PERIOD (MID/LATE 19TH CENTURY)

Details

A Wood Netsuke
Signed Masakatsu (d. 1899, Yamada, Ise Province), Edo/Meiji Period (Mid/Late 19th Century)
Katabori, okimono style, boxwood; a large and very finely carved model of a reclining horse, its legs folded underneath its body, its neck held up as it turns its head to the left, the polished body offset by the carefully incised mane and tail, the eyes inlaid in black horn, the himotoshi formed by the junction of the left hooves, signed with incised characters on an oval reserve Masakatsu, with a kao
2 1/8 x 2 3/16in. (5.4 x 5.5cm.)

Provenance

Guggenheim collection

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

This is a magnificent example of the work of Masakatsu, son of the first Masanao of Yamada in Ise Province, an artist who is said to have made few netsuke due to ill health.¹

1 Ueda Reikichi, Netsuke no kenkyu [A study of netsuke] (Osaka: Bun'endo, 1943), p. 155.

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