A boar-tusk netsuke with a fireflyBy Seiyodo Tomiharu (1733-1810), Iwami Province, dated 1794Carved in high relief with a firefly resting diagonally across the tusk, its legs undercut, signed Iji Kansei rokunen kinoe-tora chushun no hi Seiyo Enokawa Seiyodo Shi Tomiharu kore o chokoku mono nari (carved by the Eno River in Iwami Province by Seiyodo Shi[mizu] Tomiharu on a day in mid-spring in the sixth, kinoe-tora, year of Kansei [1794]). 9cm (3½in).注脚猪牙彫根付　 蛍　 銘 「維時寛政六稔甲寅仲春日石陽可愛河青陽堂清富春彫刻之者也 」　1794年Provenance:Raymond and Frances Bushell Collection.Sold at Christie's, New York, Part II, 18 October 1988, lot 191.Published:Bushell, CN, p.58, no.56.Rokusho 20, p.12, no.13.Earle, Huthart, p.34, no.14.