SIGNED KAIGYOKU (MASATSUGU KAIGYOKUSAI [1813-1892])

Details

A Rare Osaka School Ebony Netsuke
Signed Kaigyoku (Masatsugu Kaigyokusai [1813-1892])
Of a karashishi on a plinth with seal beneath, with tomobako signed Kaigyokusai Masatsugu and sealed
4.4cm. high

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Among the best-known of all netsuke carvers, Kaigyokusai Masatsugu is especially celebrated for the extreme care and precision of his carving and for his use of various materials. As noted by Ueda Reikichi, Masatsugu of Osaka appears to have been one of the first carvers whose work was exported on a large scale during his own lifetime1, a distinction he shares with his near-contemporary, the lacquerer Shibata Zeshin of Tokyo.

1 Raymond Bushell (ed.), The Netsuke Handbook of Ueda Reikichi (First published as Ueda Reikichi, Netsuke no kenkyu [A Study of Netsuke], (Osaka, 1943); Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, 1961), p.242

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