A BOXWOOD NETSUKE BY DERKACHENKO OF A BEETLE ON A TREE TRUNKBoxwood netsuke. Japan, A naturalistic, precisely carved beetle with black inlaid eyes on a hollow piece of a tree trunk. The trunk has a notched structure and several openings on the side. Inside it is a spider’s web, a very special detail, with an insect in the form of a bright green dot trapped in it. Signature on the underside in the center of the trunk. With signed and lined wooden box. Condition: Good condition CONTEMPORARY NETSUKE CARVER ALEXANDER DERKACHENKO (No.60-65) Alexander Derkachenko, born 1964 in Sambor, has been carving netsuke since 1995 and does so to this day. Originally, he was an engineer for military aircraft. We met him by mere chance in Kiev in 1997 and subsequently invited him to our netsuke symposia – the VIENNA NETSUKE SYMPOSIA (VNS). The 2002 Kiev publication Contemporary Netsuke from the Ukraine, by Alexander Derkachenko shows a photograph taken in the old GALERIE ZACKE on Schulerstraße of the British netsuke artists Guy Shaw and Michael Birch, the former curator for Japanese art at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Uspenksy, and Derkachenko. Guy Shaw wrote the words “Four desperate men” on this picture, while someone else wrote “Four happy men” underneath them. Derkachenko is the only one of these four men to still be alive. The following netsuke works come from his still very active workshop. One of the artist’s specialties is the lively, expressive carving of faces. In the foreword of the aforementioned publication, Guy Shaw wrote, “Alexander Derkachenko is a truly gifted sculptor who has chosen the difficult path of netsuke …”.LENGTH 6.6 CM