An amber netsuke of a chrysanthemum bloom　　


By Kaigyokusai Masatsugu (1813-1892), Osaka, 19th centurySigned Kaigyoku. 4.5cm (1¾in) wide.
|琥珀彫根付　菊花　銘「懐玉」　19世紀Provenance: Albert Brockhaus collection.Charles A. Greenfield collection.P. S. Bradford collection.Joseph Kurstin collection.Published: Albert Brockhaus, Netsuke, Leipzig, F. A Brockhaus, 1905/9, p.220. Louise Ade Boger, The Traditional Arts of Japan, London, W. H. Allen & Co., 1964, p.270.Harold P. Stern, The Magnificent Three: Lacquer, Netsuke and Tsuba: Selections from the Collections of Charles A. Greenfield Collection, New York, Japan Society Inc., 1972, no.128, illustrated p.112.Harold P. Stern, Birds, Beasts, Blossoms and Bugs, Harold N. Abrams, New York, 1976, no.116.Okada and Neill, Real and Imaginary Beings, The Netsuke Collection of Joseph and Edith Kurstin, New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, 1980, p.107, no.113. NKSJ, vol.5, no.3, 1985, p.32.NKSJ, vol.15, no.3, Fall 1995, p.33 (Sydney L. Moss advert)Meinertzhagen, MCI, p.298.Katchen, N7, vol.1, p.181, no.K672.The single bloom with tightly formed overlapping petals, curled in to form a compact composition in honey-coloured amber.