Lot 8: A large boar-tusk netsuke By Jack Coutu (1924-2017), English, carved November 1973

A large boar-tusk netsuke
By Jack Coutu (1924-2017), English, carved November 1973Carved in low relief with an owl, a fleeing rat and the owl's eyes inlaid in silver, the broad end plugged with ebony; inscribed on the back Carved by Jack Coutu in the Autumn of 1973 at Farnham, Surrey, England, signed on a silver tablet JC. 12.3cm (4 5/8in) long. (2).

Sold together with Jack Coutu's reference card (no.34), on which he states: 'My second tusk carving and my first attempt to use silver. The idea of a hunting owl came from a vaguely remembered design of a ghost on a tsuba, where the head melted into the background. On the reverse side is engraved "Carved by Jack Coutu in the autumn of 1973 at Farnham in Surrey, England". Not up to Iwami style!' A typically modest remark!