A boxwood netsuke of gecko and young by Masatoshi

Contemporary, December 1961
Length: 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm.)

A powerful and realistic carving of a large gecko, its head slightly turned and looking at its young standing on its side. Masatoshi named this netsuke "Yamori no oyako", translating in English to "Gecko and young".

Masatoshi writes: "Mr. Bushell likes this netsuke, but I feel it is a little flat. The animal looks more like a crocodile than a gecko. If I were to carve it again, I would bring the legs closer together and heighten the lizard's stance. The nodules on the lizard's back are carved in relief; they are not raised by Ukibori."

It is signed "Tokisada" on the base near the himotoshi, a "go" he uses when he "feels that the netsuke is a radical departure from [his] usual subject or style".

Published:
Raymond Bushell, Collector's Netsuke, fig. 348
"The Art of Netsuke Carving" by Masatoshi as told to Raymond Bushell (reprint 1992), cat. no. 191

Provenance: Raymond and Frances Bushell

Ref. 1015896

Price on Request