Kano
Tomokazu died at the age of 70 around 1840. He was the earliest
recorded carver of Gifu, most well known as one of the great
animal carvers.With the majority of his works carved in wood,
Tomokazu's ivory netsuke such as this shishi are very rare.
This large Kyoto school style netsuke evidently is a genuine
rare masterpiece, attributed to the time when Tomokazu lived
in Kyoto in the late 18th century. Meinertzhagen illustrated
a large shishi and ball boxwood netsuke from Tomokazu's Kyoto
period; an ivory shishi published in George Lazarnick's Signature
Book also confirms this date.
As
Raymond Bushell has suggested, superb artistry is the best
affirmative for confirmation of authenticity. Aside from the
well placed Tomokazu signature, one can observe this spirited
shishi, lively crouching forward with ball under grip; its
powerful head turned and looking-up with a snarl, five pointed
bushy tails raged up and thrown across its back are finely
engraved with parallel hairlines. its thick paws are carved
in defined claws that seem to dig the surface on which it
stands. The animal's fur is represented in a low relief of
small balls known as ukibori. Its eyes are double inlaid of
amber-colored tortoise shell and umimatsu for the dark pupils.
Plus, a well placed large himotoshi to hide the knot, and
the crisp finishing in soft plains of rounded edges to indicate
Kano Tomokazu's signatured touch.
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