An ivory netsuke of a horse Circa 1850
153*Y
An ivory netsuke of a horse
19th century
Struggling to lever itself out from the lower half of a large double gourd, the unstained ivory slightly worn and a stopper in the mouth of the gourd inlaid with horn, unsigned.
5.1cm (2in).
Estimate:
£2,000 - 3,000
JPY 310,000 - 460,000
US$ 3,000 - 4,500

Footnotes

  • 象牙彫根付　瓢箪から馬（張果老の馬）　無銘　19世紀

    Published: Rosemary Bandini, ibid., p.87, no.124.

    A similar example, by Ohara Mitsuhiro, is illustrated by Barbra Teri Okada and Mary Gardner Neill, Real and Imaginary Beings, 1980, p.97, no.99.

    While it has long been regarded that the subject represents the miniature horse of Chokaro, it has been suggested that in fact it is symbolic of a child emerging from its mother's womb.

Category: Asian Art / Japanese Art

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