A pale boxwood netsuke of a badger

Edo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), mid-late 19th century

Edo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), mid-late 19th century
Standing and staring ahead in a human attitude, its body wrapped in a large lotus leaf, wearing a smaller lotus leaf hat, its short bushy tail visible from beneath the edge of the leaf on the reverse, its eyes inlaid with pale translucent horn; unsigned. 5.1cm (2in) high.

For very similar examples of the subject by Toyokazu, see Neil K. Davey, Netsuke: A Comprehensive Study Based on the M. T. Hindson Collection, London, Faber & Faber and Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, 1974, p.243, no.756, and Frederick Meinertzhagen, MCI: The Meinertzhagen Card Index on Netsuke in the Archives of the British Museum, New York, Alan R. Liss Inc., 1986, p.946. For an example by Toyomasa, see Marie-Thérèse Coullery and Martin S. Newstead, The Baur Collection Geneva: Netsuke (Selected Pieces), Geneva, Collections Baur, 1977, no.C1108, and for an unsigned example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv.no.A.919-1910), see http://collections.vam.ac.uk/itemO228598/netsuke-unknown/