Featured Netsuke?

Hello again. And thank you again for all your considerate help!

I found this guy and thought he sure looked old, but maybe he is resin and therefore not old?

I've read older posts here and the horizontal holes are the same size and obviously do not connect, but there's a vertical one too, so...???

(He does have a moveable 'additional feature,' most visible in the last pictures.)

Any comments you can provide are again appreciated.

 

I'm sensing a theme in tonight's postings. This looks like resin to me but others will refine my judgment.

 

Doesn't have the right orientation of holes to be a netsuke either.

 

I only just figured out that you mean the holes by the elbows. My opinion is still the same.

 

I am thinking he might be Chinese, and may represent one of the He-He Er Xian twins, two Taoist immortals who are gods of harmony and union. They are associated with a happy marriage, and are depicted as young boys, with one holding a treasure box and the other holding a lotus flower. The association with marriage may explain the significance of the "appendage".

I would expect your little figure to be of ivory, particularly with the cracks visible on the back, but I cannot see any schreger lines in your photos. I would look at the bottom of the feet, where there would be a cross section of the tusk. But he might just be a resin reproduction of an older piece, I suppose.

 

Thank you for the lead. I am not seeing anything definitive on the small feet. But perhaps there's a 'layering' effect on one thigh and again on the upper arm:

 

I am with 2manybooks, he is Chinese and a toggle, and I think it is an old ivory one, not a reproduction.

 

A Chinese toggle: that seems to match. Thank you!!



https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/9757575-antique-ivory-toggle-china-early-20th-century

 

The way the nose looks broken yet as smooth as the rest of him bothers me.

 

An early superficial break will be worn as smooth as the rest.
I'm sure it bothers the little guy more, it must have been painful, and I hope he doesn't have difficulty breathing.