Lot Essay
The distinctive signature on this netsuke, Hide written in semi-cursive script (gyosho) and Masa written in cursive script (sosho), suggests that this is the work of a different artist from those catagorized by Lazarnick as Hidemasa I, II or III (George Lazarnick, Netsuke and Inro Artists, and How to Read Their Signatures, vol. I [Honolulu: Reed Publishers, 1981], p. 461).