λ TWO JAPANESE IVORY NETSUKE

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

One depicting an owl, the plump bird perched on an ivy-clad branch with two movable owlets peeping from the sides, the eyes inlaid and signed Tenmin to the base, the other a cluster of realistically carved gingko nuts, signed Mitsuharu, 4.7cm and 3.7cm respectively. (2)

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 B, p.861, where a related netsuke of owls by Tenmin is illustrated and discussed, possibly this very piece.