A boxwood netsuke of a snail and youngBy Yoshiharu, Sado Province, 19th centuryThe larger snail with its head extended and folded back over its shell, its young lying close to its side, forming a compact composition, the shell meticulously carved and embellished with spots of gold and black lacquer, signed Sashu no ju Yoshiharu (Yoshiharu, resident in Sashu). 3.5cm (1 3/8in).注脚黄楊彫根付　蝸牛親子　銘 「左州住義治」　19世紀Published:Earle, Huthart, p.350, no.326.Stylistically this work is arguably comparable with pieces by Sari of Iwashiro (a province close to Sado) but also by Tadayoshi of Nagoya as seen by the smooth, complete and perfectly paralled lines on this piece – normally characteristics associated with carvers from the Nagoya School. A very similar example of a single snail by Yoshiharu is illustrated by F. Meinertzhagen, MCI, p.982; a second example from the M. T. Hindson Collection sold in these rooms, 11 May 2010 lot 200, erroneously recorded by N. Davey, MTH, p.259, no.79, to the effect that Yoshiharu resided in Nagato Province (Choshu) on the western tip of Honshu, near Iwami. A third example by Yoshiharu with the signature denoting residence in Odawara was exhibited by Barry Davies Oriental Art Ltd., The Robert S. Huthart Collection of Non-Iwami Netsuke, London, 1998, p.210; all the aforementioned references strongly suggesting that Yoshiharu might have moved and lived in different provinces throughout his life.