An amusing ivory netsuke of a tanuki with a vastly distended scrotum – it is so large that the tanuki can lean its head on it. One side is inlaid with mother of pearl and colored wood. Tanuki were known to suffocate hunters with their giant testicles. The tanuki has an amusingly fierce expression and its tail curls around to the other side of the scrotum, where the large and irregular himotoshi are found, as well as the characteristic signature written in sosho SANSUI. Gyokurensai Sansui was a student of Rakuzan in the school of Garaku of Osaka.

Category:

Netsuke

Subcategory:

-

Subject:

Animal

Material:

Ivory

Age/Country:

19th Century

Artist:

Gyokurensai Sansui

Provenance/Owner:

Galerie Zacke

Signed:

signed

Type:

Katabori

Height:

43mm mm

Width:

mm

Depth:

mm

ID number: