† TADASHIGE: A SUPERB WOOD NETSUKE OF A SKULL WITH INLAID STAG ANTLER TEETHBy Hogen Tadashige, signed Hogen Tadashige 法眼忠茂Japan, Nagoya, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)Published: Lazarnick, George (1981) Netsuke & Inro Artists, and How to Read Their Signatures (LNIA), Vol. 2, p. 1061Naturalistically carved as a skull with cavernous eye sockets, the surface incised with parietal lines and neatly polished and stippled to resemble the heterogeneous structure of the cranium. The bottom is inlaid with six minutely carved stag antler teeth. Signed in ukibori characters Hogen TADASHIGE to the back surrounding the external occipital protuberance. One large single himotoshi to the underside.SIZE 4 x 4 x 2.8 cm (L x H x W)Condition: Very good condition, minor wear.Provenance: Ex-collection Helen & Jack Mang. Sold at Quinn’s Auction Galleries, The Mang Collection of Japanese Art, 7 June 2012, Falls Church, lot 209 (sold for hammer price 6,500 USD). A noted private collection, USA, acquired from the above.Tadashige (sometimes erroneously transcribed as Tadayoshi) was a pupil of Tadatoshi of Nagoya. He earned the title of Hogen during his lifetime and is regarded by Neil Davey as the most celebrated of the Nagoya carvers, his work becoming infinitely more subtle and sophisticated than that of Tadatoshi.13% VAT will be added to the hammer price additional to the buyer’s premium – only for buyers within the EU.