8th Nov, 2024 13:00
Fine Netsuke & Sagemono
147
KANO TOMOKAZU: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF A RAT WITH EDAMAME BEAN POD
Sold for €4,420
including Buyer's Premium
By Kano Tomokazu, signed Tomokazu 友一
Japan, Gifu, early 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
Finely carved and beautifully stained to depict a pudgy rat clutching a smooth edamame bean pod. The rodent’s fur finely incised, the eyes inlaid in dark horn, and the two visible incisors are inlaid in bone. The underside is superbly executed, showing the crisply carved feet and the curling tail twisting gently around the composition forming the natural himotoshi. Signed to the underside within an oval reserve TOMOKAZU.
LENGTH 4.5 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear. An old, near-invisible repair to the bottom of the left ear.
Provenance: Sotheby’s, Japanese and Korean Works of Art, 9 June 2004, London, lot 1160. From the private collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York, acquired from the above. Alan Hartman (1930-2023) was an influential American art dealer, who took over his parents’ antique business in Manhattan and established the legendary Rare Art Gallery on Madison Avenue, with further locations in Dallas and Palm Beach. His wife Simone (née Horowitz) already served as assistant manager of the New York gallery before the couple were married in 1975, and together they built a renowned collection for over half a century and became noted art patrons, enriching the collections of important museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (which opened the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries in 2013) as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York. Notably, they assembled an impressive collection of Japanese art, focusing on fine netsuke, inro, and lacquer.
The connections between Tomokazu and other Gifu and Nagoya artists have recently been investigated by Kentaro Akatsu, who points out that these two centers, only thirty kilometers apart, should really be considered as one netsuke-producing area. Akatsu’s genealogical chart shows Tomokazu as a founding father of the Nagoya group of artists which included Ikkan and Ittan, who produced similar netsuke depicting rats.
Literature comparison:
For a closely related wood netsuke of a rat clutching a bean pod, by Tomokazu, mid-19th century, see Bandini, Rosemary (2001) Expressions of Style, Netsuke as Art, Scholten Japanese Art, New York, no. 140.
Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related wood netsuke of a rat biting into a shogi piece, by Kano Tomokazu, at Zacke, Fine Netsuke & Sagemono, 28 April 2023, Vienna, lot 87 (sold for EUR 4,940).
By Kano Tomokazu, signed Tomokazu 友一
Japan, Gifu, early 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)
Finely carved and beautifully stained to depict a pudgy rat clutching a smooth edamame bean pod. The rodent’s fur finely incised, the eyes inlaid in dark horn, and the two visible incisors are inlaid in bone. The underside is superbly executed, showing the crisply carved feet and the curling tail twisting gently around the composition forming the natural himotoshi. Signed to the underside within an oval reserve TOMOKAZU.
LENGTH 4.5 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear. An old, near-invisible repair to the bottom of the left ear.
Provenance: Sotheby’s, Japanese and Korean Works of Art, 9 June 2004, London, lot 1160. From the private collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, New York, acquired from the above. Alan Hartman (1930-2023) was an influential American art dealer, who took over his parents’ antique business in Manhattan and established the legendary Rare Art Gallery on Madison Avenue, with further locations in Dallas and Palm Beach. His wife Simone (née Horowitz) already served as assistant manager of the New York gallery before the couple were married in 1975, and together they built a renowned collection for over half a century and became noted art patrons, enriching the collections of important museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (which opened the Alan and Simone Hartman Galleries in 2013) as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York. Notably, they assembled an impressive collection of Japanese art, focusing on fine netsuke, inro, and lacquer.
The connections between Tomokazu and other Gifu and Nagoya artists have recently been investigated by Kentaro Akatsu, who points out that these two centers, only thirty kilometers apart, should really be considered as one netsuke-producing area. Akatsu’s genealogical chart shows Tomokazu as a founding father of the Nagoya group of artists which included Ikkan and Ittan, who produced similar netsuke depicting rats.
Literature comparison:
For a closely related wood netsuke of a rat clutching a bean pod, by Tomokazu, mid-19th century, see Bandini, Rosemary (2001) Expressions of Style, Netsuke as Art, Scholten Japanese Art, New York, no. 140.
Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related wood netsuke of a rat biting into a shogi piece, by Kano Tomokazu, at Zacke, Fine Netsuke & Sagemono, 28 April 2023, Vienna, lot 87 (sold for EUR 4,940).
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