SIGNED MASANAO, EDO PERIOD (MID-LATE 18TH CENTURY)

We know virtually nothing about Masanao, rightly regarded today as among the finest of all netsuke carvers, beyond the facts that he lived in Kyoto, worked in both ivory and wood and was highly rated by Inaba Tsuryu in Soken kisho (1781).1 This small model combines all his virtues of well-considered sculptural form, finely (but never too finely) carved detail, wonderfully finished himotoshi, signature and other essential details, and perfect exploitation of the ivory medium and the shape of the tusk.

1. Inaba Tsuryu Shin'emon. Soken kisho [Strange and wonderful sword-fittings], vol.7, Furoku netsuke-shi meifu narabi ni zu [Supplement with illustrations and a list of netsuke artists] (Osaka, 1781), p.11.