A wood netsuke of a horse and rat


By Sari, Iwashiro Province, 19th centurySigned in an oval reserve Sari. 4.2cm (1 5/8in) wide.
|木彫根付　馬に鼠　銘「左里」　19世紀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.