A RARE AND IMPRESSIVELY LONG JAPANESE WOOD JIZAI OKIMONO (ARTICULATED MODEL) OF A SNAKE BY MASAKAZU MEIJI ERA, 19TH/20TH CENTURY The fully articulated body of the reptile realistically rendered, with a movable lower jaw, fangs and tongue; the eyes cleverly inlaid in yellow mother of pearl and the surface of the wooden scales a warm golden brown patina, signed Masakazu in an oblong mother of pearl reserve underneath the jaw, 175cm. Provenance: formerly in an important European collection, acquired in the 1970s. See Christie's London, Art of Japan, 8th December 2016, lot 19, for another wood model of a snake signed Masakazu. See p.53 of this catalogue for another view.