a spiffy guardian for your purse

Raymond and Frances Bushell Collection (AC1998.249.94) www.lacma.org

Who's a good boy?  This boy is, and by the look of him he knows it.  This ivory netsuke is only 2.25" tall, but full of himself.  You can thank the 18th-c netsuke master Gechu for that (at least, that's who gets the credit for him in current scholarship). 
Do any of my readers remember Sister Wendy Beckett's art history series on PBS?  Even if you don't, you'll enjoy and benefit from her essay on another of Gechu's netsukes, here.