A boar tusk netsuke with a spiderBy Hoodai Fushiki, Iwami Province, 19th century
Carved towards the tip on one face with a large spider; signed Iwami-shu (Iwami-no-kuni) Tsunozato Hoodai Fushiki (Hoodai Fushiki of Tsunozato in Iwami Province).
10.5cm (4 1/8in).注脚猪牙彫根付　蜘蛛　銘 「石見州都濃里鳳凰臺不識」　19世紀

Provenance:
Yada Collection.
George Lazarnick Collection.

Published:
Lazarnick, NIA, pp.71, 488.
Earle, Huthart, p.386, no.360.

This netsuke was formerly in the possession of the Yada, a prominent Iwami family. The location of Tsunozato has not been identified, although there is a Tsuno-machi on the Japan Sea coast, between Gotsu and Hamada. The Tsuno family are recorded as living in Iwami Province from the sixteenth century.