A wood netsuke of a horse and rat

By Sari, Iwashiro Province, 19th century

By Sari, Iwashiro Province, 19th century
Signed in an oval reserve Sari.
4.2cm (1 5/8in) wide.

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Provenance:
Purchased at Sotheby's, London, 1966.

Published:
Katchen, N7, vol.2, p.191, no.K146.

The horse recumbent, its head turned back to the left and looking up while the rat crouches on its long tail which curls forward over the left flank, the slightly worn wood dark stained and the eyes of pale translucent horn with dark pupils.