ADAM BLAND: THE YEAR OF THE TIGERBy Adam Bland, signed with the artist’s initialsUnited Kingdom, 2023Beautifully carved as a ferociously crouching tiger, the wood finely stained and the fur coat achieved with alternating incised and polished areas. The thick tail curls up over the animal’s bulky body and the large chubby paws are inlaid with stag antler claws. Signed underneath the right hind paw with the artist’s initials. Natural himotoshi.LENGTH 3.7 cmCondition: Excellent condition.Notes on the present piece by Adam Bland:“As a netsuke artist there is a temptation to sculpt a new zodiac animal to celebrate the start of each new year. Not only is this good for social media but there is also less stress in deciding your subject matter. Being as busy and poorly organised as I am, I managed to sculpt a tiger at the end of 2022, completing it as the year of the rabbit dawned. This retrospective approach to the tiger means the challenges of the year cannot help but influence the finished piece. My tiger takes up a defensive stance, crouched, bearing its fangs and claws, ready to fight the challenges which confront it. Carved from boxwood all the way from Japan, stained using walnut husks collected from my local village green in northern England and inlaid with antler and amber from the Ukraine.”The carving certainly draws inspiration from tiger netsuke by the Masanao family of Yamada (Masanao would be proud), though the expression is much more menacing, as the tiger looks back at the past year.Adam Bland is a contemporary netsuke artist from the north of England who has studied the craft of netsuke for several years. He has a qualifications in Fine Art and Design and first discovered netsuke accidentally following a career in architectural model making. He was drawn to the art of netsuke as they combine elements of design with fine art to create small, intricate sculptures rich with narrative and meaning. Adam Bland has recently exhibited at the International Netsuke Society Convention in Amsterdam in 2022 and his craft is constantly improving, making him one of the most exciting contemporary carvers to emerge in these past years.