Polished Bovine Cow Bone Netsuke Antique / Old Fine Carving / Scrimshaw

Polished Bovine Cow Bone Netsuke Antique / Old Fine Carving / Scrimshaw. However, this (while beautiful) is (bovine) cow bone--which is not an endangered species. If anything, there are too many of them because we produce them specifically for slaughter. My understanding is that something like ox and cow are perfectly fine because they are not endangered (and therefore sale of them does not promote the elimination of already-endangered wildlife). This piece in specific has been polished very thoroughly and "scrimshawed"/etched by the artist.

As you can see, it is the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. While cow is not an animal of the zodiac, if you look at how the artist positioned the Himotoshi (the little circles that are added as a callback to how the art-form originated) against the animal below it, it actually looks like a cow itself (the himotoshi being the eyes).

This is best seen in the first picture. Sort of like a 13th animal suggesting the bovine material from which it is made in a very artistic (in my opinion) way. It is really nicely done.

If you need more photos let me know, but I tried to take a whole bunch so that you can see the intricate details that the artist was able to etch into it. I can't even imagine how many hours (not to mention the skill) that goes into producing a piece of artwork like this. Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for looking! The item "Polished Bovine Cow Bone Netsuke Antique / Old Fine Carving / Scrimshaw" is in sale since Thursday, December 3, 2020.

This item is in the category "Antiques\Asian Antiques\China\Snuff Bottles". The seller is "lotus-on-endor" and is located in Canton, Connecticut. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Antigua and barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Montserrat, Turks and caicos islands, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Peru, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Viet nam, Uruguay, Russian federation.

• Primary Material: Bone
• Region of Origin: China
• Age: Unknown
• Original/Reproduction: Antique Original
• Color: White