239 - Ɏ AKISHIGE: A FINE MARINE IVORY AND ANTLER NETSUKE OF A SNAIL ON A LEAF

Ɏ AKISHIGE: A FINE MARINE IVORY AND ANTLER NETSUKE OF A SNAIL ON A LEAF By Akishige, signed Akishige 明重 Japan, Tokyo, Meiji period (1868-1912) Finely carved as a snail crawling across a broad leaf, its elongated body and feelers naturalistically rendered in marine ivory, the finely modeled head extending toward the edge. The rounded shell is meticulously worked with concentric whorls and densely incised radiating lines. The leaf is carved from antler and stained in a rich green, its surface deeply veined and its irregular, serrated edges carefully rendered. Himotoshi underneath and signed AKISHIGE within a red-lacquered reserve. LENGTH 3.3 cm Provenance: Ex-collection Gretchen Kroch Kelsch. Sold at Butterfield, 21 September 1991, lot 1519. Gretchen Kroch Kelsch was an American collector and daughter to Adolph A. Kroch, founder of Kroch’s and Brentano’s Book Stores, who had an extensive collection of Japanese lacquerware such as inro, kogo, and kobako. She continued to add netsuke, porcelain, and lacquerware to the collection. The assemblage was featured in Coronet Magazine, The journal of the International Netsuke Collector’s Society, and in Raymond Bushell’s Inro Handbook. In 1981, Sotheby’s New York held a dedicated sale titled The Gretchen Kroch Kelsch Collection of Japanese Lacquer, dispersing a significant group of works that had been carefully assembled over many years. Condition: Excellent condition. Auction comparison: Compare a closely related antler netsuke of a snail on a mushroom by the same artist, signed Akishige, 4.2 cm long, at Sotheby’s, Japanese Works of Art, Screens and Paintings, 22-23 November 1990, London, lot 72 (sold for GBP 1,430 or approx. EUR 4,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). This item contains ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, and/or some types of tropical wood and is subject to CITES when exporting outside the EU. It is typically not possible to export such items outside of the EU, including to the UK. Therefore, after this item has the necessary trade certificate, it can only be shipped within the EU or picked up in our gallery in person.