SIGNED SHOKICHI, EDO PERIOD (MID-19TH CENTURY)

Details

A Wood Netsuke
Signed Shokichi, Edo Period (Mid-19th century)
Katabori, okimono type, ebony; a very finely modelled figure of a reclining horse, its legs folded underneath and to the left of its body, its head held up and turned slightly to the left, the eyes inlaid in dark horn, the coat rendered by extremely fine incising, the himotoshi formed by a larger and a smaller hole in the underside, signed with small incised characters next to the smaller hole Shokichi (Masayoshi)
1 3/8 x 2½in. (3.5 x 6.4cm.)

Provenance

Swedlow collection

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

Although the name Masayoshi or Shokichi is recorded by Davey among others, no convincing hypothesis has been advanced regarding the origin of this superb carving. Were it not for the use of ebony rather than boxwood, the Nagoya-Gifu area of central Honshu might suggest itself on the basis of the very fine hairwork and delicate modelling. The shape is closer to a miniature okimono than a functional netsuke, perhaps implying a date towards the end of the Edo period.

1 Neil K. Davey, Netsuke: A Comprehensive Study Based on the M.T. Hindson Collection (London: Faber & Faber, 1974), no. 1502 (p. 493).

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