A wood netsuke of a nio Attributed to Tametaka, Nagoya, late 18th century
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Lying asleep on a straw sandal his head supported in his cupped hands, his loose robes falling in soft folds about his lower body and a long scarf trailing down his back, the details are boldly incised in the reddish stained wood which bears a rich patina, inscribed Tametaka. 5.1cm (2in).
Footnotes
Provenance: Isobel Sharpe collection.
A. E. Tebbutt collection, sold at Glendining & Co., London, 16th Dec. 1943, lot 68.
Mrs Isobel Sharpe collection.
Mark T. Hindson collection sold at Sotheby's, London, 11th October 1967, lot 263.
M. S. Newstead collection sold at Sotheby's, London, 24th Oct. 1984, lot 57.
François Storno collection sold at Christie's, London, 16th May 2007, lot 328.
Jacques Carré collection.
Published: Bernard Hurtig, Masterpieces of Netsuke Art, Tokyo and New York, 1973, no.602.
Neil K. Davey, Netsuke, a Comprehensive Study Based on the M. T. Hindson Collection, London, 1974, p.187, no.559.
The Meinertzhagen Card Index of Netsuke in the Archives of the British Museum, New York, 1986, p.854.
François Storno, Le Netzké Errant, Geneva, 2005, pp.72-73, fig.23.
Despite its long and distinguished provenance, there is controversy over the authorship of this netsuke. Fine as it is, there are those who feel that it is by a talented Nagoya follower of Tametaka, as yet unidentified.
