An ivory Tusk Vase and cover carved with the eighteen Rakkan by Tomonobu, Meiji period

crisply rendered in varying degrees of relief with a continuous scene of the saintly figures, represented in full numerical complement with their respective attributes, gathered together in a bamboo grove, reading the holy scriptures and debating, the interior fitted with a silver liner, the cover surmounted by a finial in the form of a basket overbrimming with flowers and fruit, signed Tomonobu, on a removeable hardwood stand