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Description

SARI: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF A PAIR OF BLOWFISH (FUGU) SARI: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF A PAIR OF BLOWFISH (FUGU) By Sari, signed Sari 左里 Japan, Iwashiro province, c. 1800-1820, Edo period (1615-1868) A pleasingly tactile and ideally rounded group of two blowfish, their distended bodies curling around each other, head to tail, in the form of a double comma (tomoe). The bold and simple design is finely executed with clever use of staining, their underbellies being masterfully stippled in ukibori. Natural himotoshi through one of the tail fins. Signed to the base SARI within the typical raised elliptical reserve. LENGTH 4.1 cm Condition: Very good condition with minor surface wear and light scratches. Tiny chips along the fins, smoothened over time. Provenance: From an old German private collection. The fugu fish blows up like a ball when threatened and its white flesh is highly prized in Japan. However, a poison sac in the fish’s entrails is so deadly that a chef must train for years before he can serve it, when it is traditionally arranged presented in paper-thin slices in the design of a chrysanthemum or a crane. Even so, deaths still occur as a result of fugu poisoning. Museum comparison: For a closely related pair of blowfish, by Sari, see Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number AC1998.249.22. Auction comparison: Compare a related wood netsuke of two fugu fishes by Sari, early 19th century, at Bonhams, The Julius and Arlette Katchen Collection of Fine Netsuke - Part I, 8 November 2016, London, lot 163 (sold for 5,000 GBP).

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SARI: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF A PAIR OF BLOWFISH (FUGU) SARI: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF A PAIR OF BLOWFISH (FUGU) By Sari, signed Sari 左里 Japan, Iwashiro province, c. 1800-1820, Edo period (1615-1868) A pleasingly tactile and ideally rounded group of two blowfish, their distended bodies curling around each other, head to tail, in the form of a double comma (tomoe). The bold and simple design is finely executed with clever use of staining, their underbellies being masterfully stippled in ukibori. Natural himotoshi through one of the tail fins. Signed to the base SARI within the typical raised elliptical reserve. LENGTH 4.1 cm Condition: Very good condition with minor surface wear and light scratches. Tiny chips along the fins, smoothened over time. Provenance: From an old German private collection. The fugu fish blows up like a ball when threatened and its white flesh is highly prized in Japan. However, a poison sac in the fish’s entrails is so deadly that a chef must train for years before he can serve it, when it is traditionally arranged presented in paper-thin slices in the design of a chrysanthemum or a crane. Even so, deaths still occur as a result of fugu poisoning. Museum comparison: For a closely related pair of blowfish, by Sari, see Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number AC1998.249.22. Auction comparison: Compare a related wood netsuke of two fugu fishes by Sari, early 19th century, at Bonhams, The Julius and Arlette Katchen Collection of Fine Netsuke - Part I, 8 November 2016, London, lot 163 (sold for 5,000 GBP).

Estimate 3 000 - 6 000 EUR
Starting price 3 000 EUR

* Not including buyer’s premium.
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For sale on Tuesday 03 Sep : 11:00 (CEST)
vienna, Austria
Galerie Zacke
+4315320452
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NAITO TOYOMASA: A SUPERB INLAID WOOD NETSUKE OF TWIN NASUBI (EGGPLANT) AND A FLY NAITO TOYOMASA: A SUPERB INLAID WOOD NETSUKE OF TWIN NASUBI (EGGPLANT) AND A FLY 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.