Netsuke, Unsho Hakuryu, Japan, 1940s

The cow turns toward the viewer with the idiosyncratic expression characteristic of Hakuryu, the tongue ever so slightly extended and the pupils pierced through to the pale, translucent horn eye inlays, lending the face remarkable animation.

The gently curling horns are smoothly polished, contrasting with the finely incised coat, while the powerful body is sensitively modeled with the ridged spine, shoulder blades, and ribs subtly articulated beneath the surface. The calf is carved with equal refinement, its smaller form pressed intimately against that of its mother, while a finely braided tether is loosely draped across her back. The richly figured kurogaki wood is beautifully polished throughout, enhancing the sculptural contrasts and depth of the carving. Generously hollowed, asymmetrical himotoshi to the underside and signed within a polished reserve UNSHO HAKURYU. LENGTH 5 cm Provenance: The Dorothy Ann Stevens Collection of Fine Netsuke & Inro, formed between the 1940s and 1960s. Acquired from Norton on 6 July 1953.

Unsho Hakuryu was a carpenter in the service of Asano Naritaka (1817-1868), daimyo of Hiroshima. According to Alain Ducros, he initially trained under Mitani Goho and worked predominantly in wood, before turning increasingly to ivory after encountering Ohara Mitsuhiro around 1857. Hakuryu did, however, carve single oxen in a variety of materials, including wood, ivory, and umimatsu. Literature comparison: Compare a related ivory netsuke of a recumbent ox by the same artist, signed Hakuryu, illustrated in Lazarnick, George (1981) Netsuke & Inro Artists, and How to Read Their Signatures (LNIA), Vol. 1, p. 438.