TOYOSHIMA: A FINE WOOD NETSUKE OF A MONKEY EMERGING FROM A PEACHBy Toyoshima, signed Toyoshima 豊嶋Japan, Sasayama, Tanba Province, late 19th centuryIntricately carved as a worm-eaten peach that has split open to one side, a monkey using the gnarled stem to pull himself out of the giant fruit, the stem finely stippled and issuing leaves with veins which are neatly incised to the top and raised in ukibori to the undersides. The peach with two asymmetrical himotoshi, the larger of which is generously excavated to accommodate the knot, and the signature TOYOSHIMA – the artist is a rarely encountered artist from the Tanba school.LENGTH 3.6 cmCondition: Good condition, minor wear, small chip to one leaf, minor age cracks.Auction comparison: Compare a related wood netsuke by Toyoshima of a dragon in a mikan, 4.1 cm wide, at Lempertz, 9 June 2017, Cologne, lot 552 (sold for 2,356 EUR). Also compare a related wood netsuke of an immortal emerging from a peach, by Toyomasa, at Bonhams, Fine Japanese and Korean Art, 20 March 2019, New York, lot 273 (sold for 7,575 USD).