AN EXCEPTIONAL AND RARE IVORY NETSUKE OF A TORTOIS…AN EXCEPTIONAL AND RARE IVORY NETSUKE OF A TORTOISE WITH YOUNG ATTRIBUTED TO OHARA MITSUHIRO (1810-1875)Unsigned, attributed to Ohara Mitsuhiro, ivory netsukeJapan, Osaka, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)A very finely carved and immaculately stained ivory netsuke depicting a retracted tortoise with only its head peeking out, and a young tortoise crawling up on its shell. The details of both carapaces are stunning, each individual section of the shell is naturalistically stippled with an astonishing amount of detail. The wrinkly skin of the tortoise on the underside is achieved masterfully as well, with tiny and minutely incised crossed lines. Small himotoshi on the underside. There exist similar models signed Mitsuhiro and Masatsugu (see comparisons below), which show a shared sphere of influence between arguably these two, arguably the greatest, Osaka netsuke masters.LENGTH 4.8 cmProvenance: French private collection.Condition: Excellent condition, the high points characteristically rubbed.Comparisons: A very similar tortoise signed Masatsugu (though in the catalog text it is written that the carving bears remarkable similarities to Ohara Mitsuhiro) was offered at Sotheby’s, The Katchen Collection of Netsuke – Part II, London, 13 July 2006, lot 198.Another very similar netsuke signed Mitsuhiro is Illustrated in Eskenazi, Japanese Netsuke and Inro from Private Collections (May 1975) and also illustrated on the back cover of INCS vol.3, no.1.