Buddhist Art Collections in Bronze, Wood and Stone

Beauty, Ōuchi Sōsui (Japan, 1911-1972), Japan, mid-20th century, Costumes, Wood with inlays.

A Confucian Paragon: Tang Furen breast-feeding her mother-in-law, Yoshinaga Miura (Japan, active late 19th century), Japan, late 19th century, Costumes, Ivory with sumi.

netsuke

Ivory netsuke. Cat licking its paw.

Until the 19th century all Japanese citizens wore a kimono, fastened by an obi sash. Small personal items such as purses, pipes or medicine containers were hung from the sash by silk cords. The cord was threaded through a bead, or ojime, then tucked behind the kimono sash and secured with a small ornamental toggle or counterweight called a netsuke.

あまみのポケモンイラストおきば

NM-1912-0647

Netsuke served as anchors or counterweights for inrô and sagemono. A single cord was threaded through a cord channel on one side of the suspended container, through two holes (himotoshi) in the netsuke, then through the other side of the container, and knotted on the underside of the container.

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Wood Netsuke of a Balled Rat by Masanaga Wrapped in a tight ball, its hind paws restraining the front ones, and its tail sweeping back around it. The composition is original and appealing. The eyes are inlays of dark horn

with shakudo plate cast and inlaid with Shoki examining his sword, signed Katsunori;

Netsuke of ivory depicting an octopus that has crawled down in a big vessel. (General catalogue). Signed. The kimono having no pockets, accessories have to be carried somehow. Women could put small objects in their sleeves and sash, whereas men, mainly, would hang their various boxes, pipes and brush cases on a cord at their belt. The portable objects are called sagemono. Accessories became identity-forming status objects and an important part of men´s fashion, a world in miniature with a wealth of subjects. Various kinds of artistically crafted sagemono are known from the 17th century. In addition to boxes for tobacco, cases for personal seals (inro) are one of the best-known types. Literally translated, an inro is a basket (ro) containing a seal (in). Only sealed signatures were legally valid, and so samurai and merchants, for example, needing seal stamps had to carry them in small cases. This was the origin of “seal baskets” (inro), which soon came to be used primarily for carrying medicine. These accessories varied in appearance according to the wearer’s taste and wealth, as well as fashion trends. When Western dress became popular during the Meiji period (1868-1912), there was less need for these portable objects, and they were divided up into their constituent parts (with toggles kept apart) and sold to westerners. (Based on the text for the exhibition catalogue Japan. Artefacts and images tell the story. 2011). The function of the netsuke item is to be a counterweight to the "hanging things" (sagemono) worn with the kimono by the men. Common hanging items were various boxes, for example medicine boxes (inro) and tobacco pouches. Netsuke roughly means "fixed root" and early netsuke (before the late 17th century) were probably natural, unprocessed roots and the like. From the 18th century they were made more representative and often in wood or ivory. Eventually, the artists began to sign their netsuke. (Based on the text for the exhibition Japan. Artefacts and images tell the story. 2011). /PH