As
Raymond Bushell has suggested, superb artistry is the best confirmation of authenticity.
Here is masterful conception and carving, highly expressive and impeccably finished,
with double-inlaid eyes of amber-colored tortoise shell and umimatsu for the dark
pupils. This shishi is large and ebullient; with a clearly carved sex organ verifying
her gender. Like her male counterpart, she is lively, crouching forward with a
ball under her hind legs, her powerful head turned and looking up with a snarl,
abundant balls of fur piled into swirling masses; her bushy tail raised up and
thrown across her back is finely engraved with parallel hairlines. The thick paws
are carved with defined claws that seem to dig into the surface on which she stands.
There is also a yellow pearl inlay on the back of the shishi.
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 is a masterpiece, which attributed to the time when
Tomokazu lived in Kyoto in the late 18th century.
PRIVATE
COLLECTION
