AN UNUSUAL JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE OF A SNAIL

AN UNUSUAL JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE OF A SNAIL

MEIJI ERA, 19TH CENTURY

Realistically carved, its shell with a radiating pattern of lines with dark staining, the animal emerging from its shell and with its fleshy tail undulating underneath, signed Masanao (for Masanao of Yamada, Ise Province), 3.8cm.

Provenance: a private Irish collection, Dublin. Purchased from Sydney L. Moss Ltd, London. This netsuke is illustrated and discussed in the International Netsuke Society Journal, vol. 23, no,4, Winter 2003, pp.26-7.