KOKEISAI SANSHO: A SUPERB WOOD MASK NETSUKE OF A GROTESQUELY GRIMACING MANBy Kokeisai Sansho (1871-1936), signed with the artist’s kakihanJapan, Osaka, early 20th centuryWell carved as a grimacing man with pierced pupils, nostrils, and mouth, one eye round and the other narrowed, centered by a prominent bump to the forehead and the broad nose, above the open mouth with missing teeth, the head wrapped in a cloth tied at his left cheek, the reverse with a narrow himotoshi bar incised with the kakihan of Kokeisai Sansho (artist’s cursive monogram).HEIGHT 3.8 cmCondition: Excellent condition with minor wear.Provenance: Ex-collection Grandvuinet. Sotheby’s, 14 July 2006, London, lot 1109 (part lot). European collection P. Jacquesson, acquired from the above.Literature comparison: Compare a closely related wood mask netsuke, unsigned and attributed to Kokeisai Sansho, described as a Kuron mask, 5.4 cm high, illustrated in Boris Filatov (Spring 2012) Kokeisai Sansho: Mystery of the Genius International Netsuke Society Journal, vol. 32, no. 1, p. 25, no. 17. Several further examples are illustrated in the article showing this exact kakihan.Auction comparison: Compare a related wood netsuke of a feline creature, also signed with Sansho’s kakihan, at Zacke, Fine Netsuke & Sagemono, 25 September 2020, Vienna, lot 228 (sold for 10,112 EUR).