A RARE TOKYO SCHOOL IVORY NETSUKE OF A KARAKO WITH CATERPILLAR BY MUNEYUKI
Ivory netsuke with inlaysJapan, Tokyolate 19th centuryA half-kneeling boy in Chinese manner, known as karako. He is trying to trap a caterpillar with the basket in front of him, but the creature has crawled on the boy’s shoulder. Many netsuke and inro are known where a karako is trying to entrap a butterfly with a fan, which always escapes, however in this amusing and rare netsuke, even the sluggish caterpillar manages to escape from his (incidentally open worked) basket. The boy’s head, fingers and toes are very finely carved. Decorative, floral inlays of black horn and mother-of-pearl. Rimmed himotoshi on the underside, next to a signature, MUNEYUKI, on an inlaid red lacquer tablet. From the same circle of artists as Tomoyuki, who was a successor of Tomochika.HEIGHT 3.1 CMCondition: Excellent conditionProvenance: German private collection