Wood netsuke

Finely carved and stained, depicting a monkey seated atop a tortoise, its long limbs draped closely around the domed carapace as it peers intently ahead. The tortoise has retracted into its shell for safety, drawing its head and limbs close beneath the rim while cautiously peering outward. The monkey’s fur is finely incised throughout, contrasting with the smoothly polished face and hands, while the tortoise’s shell is neatly worked with deeply incised geometric panels and its wrinkled skin delicately textured. The pupils of both animals are inlaid. Himotoshi to the underside and signed MASANAO.

The subject alludes to the well-known tale of the monkey and the jellyfish, in which the Dragon King Ryujin sends a sea-creature to obtain a monkey’s liver as a cure for his ailing consort. In one variant of the story, a turtle carries the monkey across the sea on its back, but the cunning animal discovers the plot and escapes before reaching the Dragon King’s palace. The present netsuke captures the episode before this deception is revealed, with the monkey perched confidently upon the tortoise, lending the compact composition a humorous narrative tension.