Kyoto, circa 1790
 
A male and female huddled side by side, she picking a flea, both their eyes are inlaid in pale horn, the fur finely engraved, signed to the bottom.
 
Length: 4.5 cm
 
Provenance:
- M.T. Hindson, Sotheby's, London, lot 210 
- Private collection, France
- Consigned to us pre-2021
 
It is worth reading Meinertzhagen on how good a carver Okatori was (‘MCI’ p. 622), a point not lost on this collector who owned five netsuke by him.
 
Literature:
- N.K. Davey, Netsuke [Hindson collection], no. 203 (ill.)
- Moss, Zodiac Beasts and Distant Cousins, 1993, no. 23 (ill.)
- Moss, Outside the Box, 2004, no. 28 (ill.)
 
Comparable:
Max Rutherston, The Paul and Michael Gross Collection, pp. 90-91 (ill.)