KAZAN: A SUPERB AND RARE BAMBOO NETSUKE OF A SKULL By Kazan, signed Kazan 華山 Japan, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Depicting a skull with cavernous eye sockets, carved from a section near the bamboo root, showing the gnarled root-like structure underneath, and a section of the yellowish endodermis in the back, as well as the beautiful characteristic bamboo markings all around the cranium. This is clearly a choice piece of material showing its natural beauty and versatility - most likely it is from the hidake, a considerably rare root which grows above the ground. Signed to the back within a rectangular reserve - KAZAN. LENGTH 3.5 cm Condition: Excellent condition with hardly any wear. Provenance: Ex-collection Richard R. Silverman. 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.