λ FOUR JAPANESE NETSUKE OF DRAGONS

EDO AND MEIJI PERIOD, 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY

Two in ivory, the first of flattened form and depicted fast asleep, holding a pearl of wisdom between its claws, signed Baikioku to the reverse; the second in Asakusa School style, its body forming a ring and with a loose ball in its mouth, signed Masakazu with kakihan; the third in wood, the beast depicted coiling around a large double gourd; and the last in marine ivory, the body of the dragon tightly interwoven, 7.3cm max. (4)

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

Cf. F Meinertzhagen, The Meinertzhagen Card Index on Netsuke in the Archives of the British Museum, Part A, p.11, where a similar netsuke of a dragon by Baikioku is illustrated and discussed, possibly this very piece.

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