Description MASAKATA: A FINE AND RARE WOOD NETSUKE OF HADESU SLAYING THE TIGERBy Masakata, signed Masakata 正方Japan, Nagoya, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)Clad in full armor and half kneeling, Hadesu slips a knife into the tiger's neck, his face with a grim expression, the tiger snarling with clenched teeth and biting into the warrior's armor. The details are finely carved, the tiger's fur coat is precisely rendered, and the eyes of the fierce feline are inlaid in dark horn. The underside shows the superbly carved paws and the signature within a rectangular reserve MASAKATA between the two himotoshi.LENGTH 4.1 cmCondition: Very good condition, minor surface wear consistent with age and handling.Provenance: Hauswedell, Hamburg, 4 June 1962, lot 681. Then Old Viennese private collection.The artist was a pupil of Sato Masayoshi, active in Nagoya. Masataka's work is relatively scarce with only few examples recorded in literature. Furthermore, while Sato Masayoshi and his followers carved many tigers, this is the only recorded example of Hadesu slaying a tiger from this school.Hadesu (Hasuhi) was a Japanese envoy in Korea in 545 AD. According to legend he avenged his child's death by seizing the tiger's tongue with his left hand and stabbing the tiger with his right hand.Auction comparison:Compare a related wood netsuke of a tiger family, signed Masayoshi and dated to the 19th century, at Bonhams, The Julius and Arlette Katchen Collection of Fine Netsuke Part III, 6 November 2018, London, lot 52 (sold for 2,750 GBP).