SIX JAPANESE WOOD NETSUKE OF BOYS

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

Depicted engaged in a variety of activities, five wearing lion masks for the shishi-mai dance and another riding an ox, together with a netsuke in resin of a child doing the akanbe gesture (pulling his eyelid and sticking his tongue out) and a small hinged box, possibly for tobacco, shaped as two children climbing on a large sack, some with signatures including Gyokuho, 5.6cm max. (8)

Provenance: from the collection of a lady of title, and thence by descent.