180 - TAMEOTO: A RARE GOLD LACQUER WOOD NETSUKE OF A SNAIL EMERGING FROM ITS SHELL

TAMEOTO: A RARE GOLD LACQUER WOOD NETSUKE OF A SNAIL EMERGING FROM ITS SHELL By Tameoto, signed Tameoto 為乙 Japan, Kaga province, late 18 th-early 19 th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Finely carved as a large snail emerging from its tightly coiled shell, its soft body curling around the underside and extending forward beneath the shell, the raised head with two long tentacles picked out in gold lacquer. The spiraling shell is meticulously worked with dense radiating grooves, contrasting with the richly stippled, granular texture of the snail’s body. Natural himotoshi under the curling foot and signed TAMEOTO within an oval reserve. LENGTH 4 cm Provenance: Piasa Auction, 2 June 1999, Paris, lot 461. French private collection, acquired from the above. Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and some light rubbing to the gold lacquer. Tameoto was an exceptionally rare carver whose surviving oeuvre is extremely small. Fuld’s Netsuke and Ojime Index records only three netsuke by the artist, including the present piece, the closely related example in the British Museum cited below, and a further work formerly in the Brockhaus Collection, the latter unillustrated. An inscription on the British Museum example records Tameoto as being from Komatsu in Kaga Province, providing valuable evidence for the artist’s place of origin and activity. Museum comparison: Compare a closely related ivory netsuke of a snail emerging from its shell by the same artist, signed Tameoto, dated 18th-19th century, 4 cm long, in the British Museum, registration number F.1156.