Japan, late 19th centuryPublished: Chappell, Welch (1999) Netsuke: The Japanese Art of Miniature Carving, no. 248.A quite unusual ensemble consisting of many different materials. The case is crafted from marine ivory (most likely sperm whale tooth) and highly polished ebony wood. The top is very finely decorated in gold hiramaki-e with aogai (mother-of-pearl) showing two butterflies, a symbol for marital happiness and well-being relating to the Chinese character for “double-happiness”. The interior of the hako netsuke slides out to reveal an old compass, inscribed in gold lacquer with the twelve animals of the zodiac and a sundial.LENGTH 4.5 cmCondition: Very good condition with minor surface wear. The sundial with a loss.Provenance: Ex-collection Richard R. Silverman purchased from Sharen Chappell, St. Paul, in 2013. Richard R. Silverman (1932-2019) was a renowned Asian art collector with one of the largest private collections of netsuke outside of Japan. He lived in Tokyo between 1964 and 1979 and began to collect netsuke there in 1968. Since the 1970s, he wrote and lectured about netsuke and was an Asian art consultant for Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams. His gift of 226 ceramic netsuke to the Toledo Museum of Art constitutes perhaps the largest public collection of these miniature clay sculptures in the world. After moving to California, Silverman became a member of the Far Eastern Art Council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1984. In 1993, he joined LACMA’s Executive Board. He served on the board of directors for the International Society of Appraisers from 1986 to 1994 and served nine years as chair for the City of West Hollywood Fine Arts Commission. Richard Silverman was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his decades-long promotion of Japanese culture.This item contains ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, and/or some types of tropical wood and is subject to CITES when exporting outside the EU. It is typically not possible to export such items outside of the EU, including to the UK. Therefore this item can only be shipped within the EU or picked up in our gallery in person.