MASATOSHI: A LACQUERED WOOD NETSUKE OF ONO NO TOFU AS AN INKSTONE By Nakamura Tokisada (Masatoshi) (1915-2001), signed Tokisada 時定 koku Japan, Tokyo, October 1961 Published: Bushell, Raymond (1992) The Art of Netsuke Carving by Masatoshi as told to Raymond Bushell, no. 286 (illustrated in color). Carved from boxwood and lacquered in black, green, dark red, and bright red lacquer. The design is copied from a toy in the shape of an ink stone representing the famous calligrapher Ono no Tofu. Masatoshi states: “Every school child knows the story of how Ono no Tofu learned perseverance from a little frog that tried and tried again and again until it reached the branch for which it is aiming. I copied most of the inscriptions which I engraved on netsuke representing toys from the descriptions found in Unai no tomo (The Child's Friend).” Large himotoshi and signed in the back within a polished gourd-shaped reserve MASATOSHI koku and inscribed Sagano (district of Kyoto) and suzuri (inkstone). LENGTH 6.8 cm Condition: Good condition with minor wear to lacquered details, tiny nicks, some of the wear on purpose such as on the recess of the ink stone which shows 'use'. Provenance: Ex-collection Richard R. Silverman purchased from Raymond Bushell, Tokyo, in 1996. Richard R. Silverman (1932-2019) was a renowned Asian art collector with one of the largest private collections of netsuke outside of Japan. He lived in Tokyo between 1964 and 1979 and began to collect netsuke there in 1968. Since the 1970s, he wrote and lectured about netsuke and was an Asian art consultant for Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams. His gift of 226 ceramic netsuke to the Toledo Museum of Art constitutes perhaps the largest public collection of these miniature clay sculptures in the world. After moving to California, Silverman became a member of the Far Eastern Art Council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1984. In 1993, he joined LACMA's Executive Board. He served on the board of directors for the International Society of Appraisers from 1986 to 1994 and served nine years as chair for the City of West Hollywood Fine Arts Commission. Richard Silverman was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his decades-long promotion of Japanese culture.