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A tiny, charming, signed, Edo period (18th/19th Century) tinted ivory netsuke with a pleasing, timeworn smoothness, depicting Sarumawashi, the traveling monkey showman, his monkey emerging from a large sack draped across his shoulders, the ends of which he is clutching with both hands. The two himotoshi are rather ingeniously placed for actual use, one back center and one along the right thigh, in such a manner that when strung and attached to an inro, both faces, that of Sarumawashi and that of his monkey, roughly perpendicular to one another, will be seen in ¾ or profile from the viewer’s perspective. The signature is on the back of the right leg, just above the knee and may be transliterated as “Ichizan Kuyshu” or perhaps “Issan Hisata.” The carver is not listed in George Lazarnick’s classic, “Netsuke & Inro Artists And How To Read Their Signatures. Height: 3.8cm (1-1/2”). Please note: Because of international CITES restrictions pertaining to ivory export and import, and the subsequent difficulty in obtaining the necessary permits, we will not ship this item outside of the United States. Potential customers outside the U.S.A. will need to hire an agent to assist them with the purchase.
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