An ebony netsuke of a ratBy Seiyodo Tomiharu (1733-1810), Iwami Province, dated 1792Gnawing a huge chestnut, the rodent's body almost fitting into the hole it has eaten away, the surface of the nut covered with rather worn ukibori pimples, faintly signed Kansei mizunoe-ne ni ni hachigatsu Iwami-shu (Iwami-no-kuni) Enokawa Seiyodo Tomiharu kyonen rokujusai kore o chokoku nari (this was carved by Seiyodo Tomiharu at the age of sixty by the Eno River in Iwami Province in the eighth month of the fourth, mizunoe-ne, year of Kansei [1792]). 3.7cm (1½in).注脚黒檀彫根付　栗を噛む鼠　銘 「寛政壬子二二八月石見州可愛河青陽堂富春享年六十歳彫刻之也」　1792年Provenance:Imai Kenzo Collection.Published:Hurtig, MNA, no.443.Rokusho 20, p.11, no.12.Earle, Huthart, p.76, no.57.