An ebony netsuke of a tortoiseBy Seiyodo Tomiharu (1733-1810), Iwami Province, dated 1793
The tortoise facing ahead, its head emerging from within its shell, its legs drawn in for compactness, the carapace embellished with worn ukibori pimples, the eyes inlaid in pale and dark horn; signed Iwami Enokawa Seiyodo Tomiharu-o kyonen rokujuissai shite kore o chokoku toki ni Kansei mizunoto-ushi natsu nari (this was carved by the Eno River in Iwami by old man Seiyodo Tomiharu at the age of sixty-one in the summer of the mizunoto-ushi year of Kansei [1793]). 5.3cm (2 1/8in).注脚黒檀彫根付　亀　銘 「石見可愛河青陽堂富春翁行年六十一歳而彫刻之于時寛政癸丑夏也」　1793年

Provenance:
Anne Hull Grundy Collection.

Published:
Earle, Huthart, p.55, no.35.