Netsuke in the form of an ivory study of a shishi, a mythological animal, with an open mouth. The shishi is seated on a lozenge-shaped base probably representing a rock, its head turned to its right and its right fore paw raised and its body weight resting, through its left paw, on what looks like a tree trunk. It has a long tail curved upwards behind its body reaching as high as its head. The ivory is dark, almost black in the grooves. It has been worn a great deal, so the surface is polished.
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