A wood netsuke of a kappa

By Hideharu, Nagoya, 19th century

By Hideharu, Nagoya, 19th century
Signed in an elliptical reserve Hideharu.
4.5cm (1¾in) wide.

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Provenance:
Purchased at Sotheby's, London, 1965.

Published:
Katchen, N7, vol.2, p.35, no.K406.

Seated on a giant clam and trying to extricate one foot caught in the jaws of the shell, crisply carved in lightly stained wood, the eyes inlaid in pale translucent horn with dark pupils.

One of the more popular designs by Hideharu, one of which is illustrated with a line drawing in Meinertzhagen, MCI,p.136. A variation on this popular subject by Hideharu shows a mermaid in a similar distressed attitude (see Lazarnick, NIA, p.458).