Netsuke, ebony wood, Japan, 1746

TOMIAKI: A MASTERFUL LARGE IWAMI SCHOOL EBONY WOOD NETSUKE OF A DORMOUSE ON AN OAK BRANCH By Sasaki Tomiaki (born 1746), signed Sasaki Tomiaki 佐々木 富明 Japan, Iwami province, late 18th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Exquisitely carved from dense, lustrous ebony, depicting a dormouse crouching alertly upon a gnarled oak branch, its head raised inquisitively and its delicate paws gripping the uneven surface.

The animal’s soft coat is rendered with countless minute, flowing incisions following the rounded contours of its body, contrasting beautifully with the smoothly polished acorns clustered behind it. The branch is enveloped by overlapping, deeply veined oak leaves with subtly curled and irregular margins, while the acorn cups are worked with a minute crosshatched texture. The carving rewards the closest inspection, the surface enriched throughout with extraordinarily fine ukibori work, continually revealing new details as the netsuke is turned in the hand. The underside with a generously excavated asymmetrical himotoshi, the cut end of the branch signed SASAKI TOMIAKI in fine ukibori characters within a rectangular reserve. LENGTH 7.1 cm Provenance: Ex-collection Frank Lapisch.

Sasaki Tomiaki (1746-after 1823) was a distinguished carver of the Iwami school and a pupil of its great master Seiyodo Tomiharu. Like his teacher, he worked principally in dense, dark woods and is particularly associated with minutely observed studies of spiders, cicadas, and other creatures, characterized by exceptionally intricate surface carving and an uncompromising naturalism. The netsuke is further distinguished by its unusually substantial size. Tomiaki appears to have favored relatively large-scale compositions, as demonstrated by several recorded works, including the 6.3 cm dated cicada and a 6.1 cm ebony spider on driftwood from the celebrated Huthart collection; at 7.1 cm, the present netsuke is especially imposing.

The exceptional esteem in which Iwami netsuke by Tomiaki were already held at the time of Lapisch’s acquisition is reflected in his own annotation: Iwami no Tomiaki ichiban takai netsuke osoraku saite go/rokujuman maku kara [Tomiaki of Iwami, perhaps the most expensive netsuke, from five or six thousand marks upwards]. The statement is a remarkable contemporary indication of the high value attached to Tomiaki’s work, and particularly to the present netsuke.