Until 2nd May, 2025
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NAITO TOYOMASA: A SUPERB INLAID WOOD NETSUKE OF TWIN NASUBI (EGGPLANT) AND A FLY
LOT 120 - NE0524
By Naito Toyomasa (1773-1857), signed Toyomasa 豊昌
Japan, Sasayama, Tanba Province, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
Published: Stern, Harold P. (1972) The Magnificent Three: Lacquer, Netsuke, and Tsuba, p. 66-67, no. 95.
Finely carved, the larger and smaller nasubi (eggplants) with their stems touching the base of the other in a yin-yang fashion, the wood superbly polished, and the stems finely stippled and accentuated with black staining in the idiosyncratic manner of this master artist. One side revealing a large fly, carved from stained bone, lodged deep into the flesh of the larger eggplant. Himotoshi formed by the pleasingly curling stems. Signed TOYOMASA to the underside of the large nasubi.
LENGTH 3.9 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and few faint natural age cracks.
Provenance: Ex-collection of Charles A. Greenfield. Private collection in Illies, France. Private collection in northern Germany, acquired from the above.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related wood netsuke of two rotten chestnuts with an inlaid maggot which has similarly burrowed itself into the nut, signed Toyomasa, illustrated in Davies, Barry (1998) The Robert S. Huthart Collection of Non-Iwami Netsuke, p. 182-183, no. 131.
Compare a related wood netsuke of three rotten Hozuki (winter cherries), bearing similar stippling, signed Toyomasa, at Zacke, Kunst der Netsuke und Inro Japans, 1991, Vienna, lot 47.
Compare a related wood sake-cup netsuke of a double gourd being surmounted by a spider, its shape similar to the present lot, signed Toyomasa, illustrated in Davies, Barry (1998) The Robert S. Huthart Collection of Non-Iwami Netsuke, p. 186-187, no. 134.
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