A fine large corozo nut netsuke of a god of good luck, by Masaharu. Mid-19th centuryCarved with the highly polished and friendly face of either Hotei or Daikoku looking out from the skin of the nut displaying traces of black lacquer. Signed Masaharu in a cartouche reserved from the bark-like skin. Masaharu specialized in the carving of vegetable ivory of the corozo nut. “A vegetable ivory nut, face of Hotei, signed Masaharu” is listed in the W. L. Behrens Netsuke catalogue under no. 4292. Meinertzhagen supposes that these nuts were “obtained from the Dutch settlers at Nagasaki during the early part of the 19th century.” (MCI, p. 409) Height 4.3 cmProvenienzColl. no. 972 (printed and handwritten)A fine large corozo nut netsuke of a god of good luck, by Masaharu. Mid-19th centuryCarved with the highly polished and friendly face of either Hotei or Daikoku looking out from the skin of the nut displaying traces of black lacquer. Signed Masaharu in a cartouche reserved from the bark-like skin. Height 4.3 cm