Asakusa, late 19th centuryA compact study with lots of movement depicting a kappa chasing after a frog, while a crab pinches the kappa, who screams out in pain, holding his leg. The entire struggle takes place on a lotus leaf, which is slowly disintegrating, slightly crumpled on the edges and showing many holes. The underside is carved with great detail, as is usual for the best Asakusa school works, with two beautifully carved stems of the lotus leaves curling up and around, one of them leading to the other side and forming a lifelike lotus bud next to the frog. The naturally porous material of the walrus ivory has been used beautifully to portray the decaying lotus leaf. Natural himotoshi through the stem of the leaf on the underside and the pupils of the frog and kappa are inlaid in dark horn.While attributing this netsuke to a certain carver of the Asakusa school is difficult, it is most likely from the circle of hands around Ozaki Kokusai. The triangular section of the kappa’s limbs, are typical of Kokusai and seen most notably in the creature in Paul Moss’s collection, illustrated in his recent magnum opus, vol. II, no. 64. While the overall delicacy and movement of this carving seems closer to Rensai than to Kokusai, it nonetheless feels more akin to the Kokusai example in the Veranneman collection (Eskenazi, no. 220) than the Rensai in the Minneapolis exhibition (Welsh and Chappell, no. 168).DIAMETER 3.4 CMCondition: Excellent conditionProvenance: British collection

Category:

Netsuke

Subcategory:

-

Subject:

Animal Mythological

Material:

Marine ivory

Age/Country:

19th Century

Artist:

-

Provenance/Owner:

Galerie Zacke

Signed:

unsigned

Type:

Manju

Height:

mm

Width:

34mm mm

Depth:

mm

ID number: