Live Auction 13127Art of Japan
A Fine Wood Netsuke of a Snake Coiled around a Skull
Lot 21 The Property of a Private Swiss Collector

A Fine Wood Netsuke of a Snake Coiled around a Skull

Signed Masakatsu, Yamada School, Edo period (early 19th century)

Closed8 December 2016

Price Realised

GBP 6,875

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A Fine Wood Netsuke of a Snake Coiled around a Skull
Signed Masakatsu, Yamada School, Edo period (early 19th century)
Carved as a snake coiled around and through a skull, eyes inlaid in pale and dark cow horn
3.9 cm. high

Specialist note

The netsuke carver Masakatsu was the son of Masanao I and examples of his work are rare due to a small output because of ill health. His work is considered to be very fine, working almost entirely in boxwood and is particularly recognised for his rendering of reptiles. For a very similar model in ivory by Masakatsu see Eskenazi, Japanese Netsuke from the Carré Collection, (London, 1993), no. 169, p. 139