MASAHIDE: A FINE KURUMI (WALNUT) NETSUKE OF A CHRYSANTHEMUM BASKET By Sakiyo Kurokawa Masahide, signed Kiyo Masahide 正英 with kakihan Japan, Nagasaki, mid-18th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Superbly carved and pierced as a basket filled with chrysanthemum (kiku) flowers and leaves, the basket handle and wickerwork neatly incised. Several natural himotoshi due to the openwork nature of the netsuke. The underside inscribed Kiyo (for Nagasaki) and signed MASAHIDE with a kakihan. HEIGHT 3.2 cm Condition: Very good condition with old wear and few natural flaws. Provenance: Ex-collection Richard R. Silverman. Richard R. Silverman (1932-2019) was a renowned Asian art collector with one of the largest private collections of netsuke outside of Japan. He lived in Tokyo between 1964 and 1979 and began to collect netsuke there in 1968. Since the 1970s, he wrote and lectured about netsuke and was an Asian art consultant for Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams. His gift of 226 ceramic netsuke to the Toledo Museum of Art constitutes perhaps the largest public collection of these miniature clay sculptures in the world. After moving to California, Silverman became a member of the Far Eastern Art Council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1984. In 1993, he joined LACMA's Executive Board. He served on the board of directors for the International Society of Appraisers from 1986 to 1994 and served nine years as chair for the City of West Hollywood Fine Arts Commission. Richard Silverman was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his decades-long promotion of Japanese culture. Sakiyo Kurokawa Masahide, active during the mid-18th century, excelled in the carving of nuts. His skill in carving kurumi netsuke is arguably unsurpassed. Literature comparison: A closely related netsuke of a chrysanthemum basket by Masahide, showing also the same inscription as the present lot, is illustrated in Coullery, Marie-Therese and Newstead, Martin S. (1977) The Baur Collection, p. 272, no. C 810. Another closely related netsuke of a flower basket by Masahide is illustrated in Davey, Neil K. (1974) Netsuke: A comprehensive study based on the M.T. Hindson Collection, p. 295, no. 898.