Hide - Fugu fish netsuke
Circa 1860
A fanciful netsuke of a swimming fugu fish, its body is inflated on each side, creating a ’catamaran’ like bouancy. Two pectoral fins flow back from the cushiony abdomen and the tail sweeps round to the left. The fish’s skin is lightly stippled along the back and the slightly opened mouth reveals two fine rows of teeth. The eyes are inlaid in pale horn, the surface deliberately treated to suggest an opaqueness, dark horn pupils discernible from behind. This very individual design creates a second appearance when viewed from above: a comical mask of a face, the eyes and thick brows formed by the pectorial fins.
