A lacquered-wood netsuke of a hiryu (flying dragon)


18th centuryUnsigned. 10.1cm (4in) wide.
|木彫漆塗根付　飛竜　無銘　18世紀Provenance: Lt. Col. J. B. Gaskell collection, no.1102.W. W. Winkworth collection, purchased 1960.Published: Katchen, N7, vol.2, p.429, no.K95.Of squat form, the short scaly body with wide open mouth and fin-like wings, the tail curled forward for compactness, carved in light wood and lacquered red with traces of gilding.Similar models carved in ivory are recorded in Davey, MTH, p.321, no.984 and in wood, ibid, p.377, no.1130, and Meinertzhagen, MCI, p.1024.The hiryu is a flying dragon fish, sometimes miscalled a makatsugyo (dragon-fish) or shachihoko (flying dragon) and the subject is illustrated with a drawing in Inaba, SK, where it is clearly titled hiryu.