Mingei Kiseruzutsu. Snake & Frog Decor, Compass, Kiseru
March 2013 Auction by Far East Asian Art

An impressive, Mingei carved wood kiseruzutsu (a pipe case or holder worn similarly as a sashi netsuke) with snake and frog decoration - quite appropriate for the 'year of the snake' and a tiny compass with inlaid into one corner. Depicted are a snake coiled around a weathered log apparently in ready ambush for a frog perched on the other end - both with pierced bone or stag antler inlaid eyes...