Beschreibung:

By Hara Yoyusai (1772-1845), signed Yoyusai Japan, Edo (Tokyo), early 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Published: Chappell, Welch (1999) Netsuke: The Japanese Art of Miniature Carving, no. 146. The lacquered hako (box) netsuke used to store incense and bearing an attractive brown lacquer ground. The design is achieved in superb gold hiramaki-e showing three mon crests depicting pine boughs and ferns. The crests, stylized renditions of the wood-sorrel flower (katabami), have pointed sword tips between the petals. These crests undoubtedly reflect the military interests of the owner. The cord attachment on the inside, which is lacquered in dense, bright nashiji. Signed underneath in gold characters YOYUSAI. DIAMETER 4.3 cm Condition: Excellent condition, minor surface wear. Provenance: Ex-collection Richard R. Silverman purchased in Japan in the 1980s. Richard R. Silverman (1932-2019) was a renowned Asian art collector with one of the largest private collections of netsuke outside of Japan. He lived in Tokyo between 1964 and 1979 and began to collect netsuke there in 1968. Since the 1970s, he wrote and lectured about netsuke and was an Asian art consultant for Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams. His gift of 226 ceramic netsuke to the Toledo Museum of Art constitutes perhaps the largest public collection of these miniature clay sculptures in the world. After moving to California, Silverman became a member of the Far Eastern Art Council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1984. In 1993, he joined LACMA’s Executive Board. He served on the board of directors for the International Society of Appraisers from 1986 to 1994 and served nine years as chair for the City of West Hollywood Fine Arts Commission. Richard Silverman was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his decades-long promotion of Japanese culture. Hara Yoyusai (1772-1845) was a highly skilled lacquerer whose patrons tended to be aristocrats. It is likely that this piece was commissioned by a feudal warlord.