A carved wooden sculpture of a rabbit by Ushioda Kosai enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Mokucho Usagi. It is 13 x 20.5 x 34 cm (5-1/4 x 8 x 13-1/2 inches) and is in excellent condition. It comes complete with the original lacquered wood base.
Ushioda Kōsai was born in Ibaraki Prefecture, given name Isaburo. He studied sculpture under Katō Keiun and Sawada Seikō. In 1949, his work Magokoro (“Sincerity”) was accepted for the first time at the 4th Shin-Bunten Exhibition. Until around 1952 he lived in Nishiyamanouchi Village, (present-day Kasama), after which he relocated to Kunitachi. In 1946 he exhibited Sōbō (“Vast Expanse”) at the 2nd Nitten Exhibition and continued to exhibit there thereafter. He was a member of the Nichichōkai and regularly exhibited with the Shinkaijusha, being appointed a committee member of that organization in 1962. He also used the art name Mokuchōan. Kosai died in Tokyo in 1981.
