A WOOD KISERUZUTSU DEPICTING AN OCTOPUSUnsigned Japan, 19th centuryOf senryu-zutsu type, finely carved in openwork as an octopus with entwined tentacles, its large head incised with deep wrinkles, a characteristic of Ikkyu (see Literature comparison for a signed example), above the bulging eyes and open beak. LENGTH 20.4 cmCondition: Very good condition with minor wear, few light scratches, the back of the head with a minor age crack. Provenance: From the collection of Felix Tikotin, and thence by descent within the family. Felix Tikotin (1893-1986) was an architect, art collector, and founder of the first Museum of Japanese Art in the Middle East. Born in Glogau, Germany, to a Jewish family, his ancestors had returned with Napoleon from Russia from a town named Tykocin. He grew up in Dresden and after World War I, he traveled to Japan and immediately fell in love with the culture. In April 1927, he opened his own first gallery in Berlin. The entire family survived the holocaust, and in the 1950s Tikotin slowly resumed his activities as a dealer in Japanese art. He became, once again, very successful and prominent, holding exhibitions all over Europe and the United States. When he first visited Israel in 1956, he decided that the major part of his collection belonged in that country. In 1960, the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art was opened in Haifa.Literature comparison: Compare a closely related bamboo kiseruzutsu depicting an octopus by Ikkyu, also dated second half of 19th century, illustrated in Brockhaus, Albert (2005 reprint Edizioni Bocca - Milano) Netsuke, p. 543. Compare a closely related wood kiseruzutsu depicting an octopus, illustrated in Bushell, Raymond (1975) Netsuke Familiar & Unfamiliar, p. 232, no. 786.