HIDARI ISSAN: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF A COILED DRAGONBy Hidari Issan, signed Hidari Issan 左一山Japan, Iwashiro, c. 1840, Edo period (1615-1868)Published: Lazarnick, George (1981) Netsuke & Inro Artists, and How to Read Their Signatures, vol. I, p. 520.Sydney L. Moss (2008) Such Stuff as Dreams are made on. Japanese netsuke from the Willi G. Bosshard collection, p. 145, no. 69.Exquisitely carved as a smooth dragon coiling its body back on itself in irregular loops and clutching a sacred tama (jewel) in its left foreclaw. The underside is reticulated, well detailed with claws, scales, and a curling tail tip, and the beast’s head is pulled back in a defensive pose. The glaring eyes are inlaid in bone with gilt-rimmed dark horn pupils.LENGTH 4.3 cmCondition: Excellent condition with only very minor wear.Provenance: Sotheby’s, 22 January 1977, Honolulu, lot 62. Kunsthandel Klefisch, June 1996, Cologne. Ex-collection Willi G. Bosshard, acquired from the above. Sydney L. Moss, London, 2008. British collection, acquired from the above.Hidari Issan is a noteworthy and highly regarded netsuke carver, not least by Frederick Meinertzhagen who ranked him among the best, alongside Toyomasa, Tadatoshi, and Ikkan, and recorded a netsuke of his dated as early as 1798.Literature comparison:Compare a related wood netsuke of a coiled dragon with tama by Hidari Issan, with similarly inlaid eyes, illustrated in Ducros, Alain (1987) Netsuke & Sagemono 2, p. 90, no. 177. Auction comparison:The artist has carved several variations of this subject, though none of them are exactly alike. One was sold at Bonhams, The Julius and Arlette Katchen Collection of Fine Netsuke Part II, 10 May 2017, London, lot 72 (sold for 11,250 GBP); another was sold at Galerie Zacke, Fine Netsuke & Sagemono, 25 September 2020, Vienna, lot 129 (sold for 10,112 EUR); and a third was sold at Galerie Zacke, 27 January 2022, Vienna, lot 600 (sold for 7,584 EUR).