A boxwood and metal netsuke of ants on vegetablesBy Jikan Ganbun, Kyoto and Edo, 19th centuryA large pumpkin with a mushroom, eggplant and cucumber resting at the sides, inlaid with three crawling ants in shakudo and shibuichi, signed on an inlaid ebony tablet Gyonen nanajusai Jikan Ganbun (Jikan Ganbun, aged seventy). 4.9cm (1 7/8in).注脚黄楊彫根付　野菜に蟻　銘 「行年七十才自侃眼文」　19世紀Provenance:Willard Collection.Published:Lazarnick, NIA, p.379.Earle, Huthart, p.306, no.277.Burditt, ICLS, p.39, fig.3.Although for some years it has been recorded that Ganbun worked in Kyoto and Edo, he was at one time thought to have lived and worked in Iwami Province. He was an adept metalworker, renowned for his meticulous, lifelike miniature ants with which he inlaid his own carved netsuke, as well as adding to wood netsuke by other makers. The present example shows affinities with the work of Arima Tomonobu, who worked in Nagoya in the 19th century.