Robert S Huthart, the Newcastle-born manager of the Hong Kong department store conglomerate Lane Crawford, was first introduced to netsuke on a visit to Tokyo when he was given of a copy of The Wonderful World of Netsuke by Raymond Bushell.
His focus became the distinctive netsuke produced by late 18th and early 19th century carvers based in the seaboard province of Iwami (present-day Shimane Prefecture).
Huthart’s first-ever Iwami netsuke purchase, in January 1979, was this kurogaki (black persimmon) carving of a rat sitting on an inkstick (two views pictured above right).