154 - TOYOMASA: A RARE EBONY WOOD NETSUKE OF A HATCHING KARASU TENGU (TENGU NO TAMAGO)

TOYOMASA: A RARE EBONY WOOD NETSUKE OF A HATCHING KARASU TENGU (TENGU NO TAMAGO) By Naito Toyomasa (1773-1856), signed Toyomasa 豊昌 Japan, Sasayama, Tanba Province, first half of the 19 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Well carved in lustrous ebony as a tengu emerging from its egg, forcefully breaking through the jagged shell and gripping its fractured edges with long, claw-like fingers. The face is amusingly rendered with deeply furrowed brows, a sharply hooked beak, and a small tokin cap perched atop the head, while the wide eyes, inlaid in pale horn with dark pupils, lend the creature an intense, almost startled expression. The smoothly polished surface of the egg is animated by a network of carefully carved cracks radiating from the opening. Generously excavated, asymmetrical himotoshi to the reverse and signed TOYOMASA in confidently cut characters. HEIGHT 4.5 cm Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and traces of use including a few old nicks. The present netsuke represents a particularly unusual treatment of Toyomasa’s celebrated Tengu no tamago model. Most striking is its execution in kokutan (ebony), a material rarely encountered in his oeuvre, as well as the unusual frontal composition, with both clawed hands gripping the fractured shell. Nevertheless, the strongly modeled head, deeply furrowed features, hooked beak, and characteristic inlaid eyes are unmistakably consistent with Toyomasa’s other treatments of the subject. Interestingly, recorded examples of his hatching tengu also appear to bear the signature directly on the surface rather than within the oval reserve more commonly encountered on his animal carvings. Auction comparison: Compare a closely related wood netsuke of the same subject by the same artist, signed Toyomasa, 4.5 cm wide, at Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 12 November 2015, London, lot 112 (sold for GBP 6,000 or approx. EUR 10,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). The composition differs, with one wing extending across the shell, yet the treatment of the tengu’s head is strikingly similar to the present work; notably, the signature is likewise cut directly into the surface without a reserve.