Netsuke Central

[Bugyotsuji]

Here is the ceramic or pottery chestnut.

 

 

The reverse with typical Himotōshi holes forming bridge.

 

Recent antiques fair 灰皿 haizara find

 

 

And reverse

 

[Bugyotsuji]

And the simple Manjū, plus the Satsuma lady. If she is a netsuke, the strings would have been wound around her body, as with the natural curves of hyotan gourd netsuke etc., but, as with some Netsuke, she can also stand up okimono-like!

 

So there we have a few examples.

Ceramic Netsuke will often break if dropped, which may account for their relatively rarity. I tend to think of them as an interesting off-shoot of mainline Netsuke. What do you think?

 

 

Satsuma peasant lady with giant beet, side view

 

front view

 

 

 

[Mike0820]

Any information or opinions on this? Seems to me it could be genuine but I know nothing so that’s a big could be. It’s signed. Not sure if legit. I don’t own the piece. My father happened upon it at a local market. 

[Matsunoki]

Sorry to say this is not a legit netsuke. It is a low quality “look alike” intended for the modern market. Probably not carved in Japan.You can see the dragons scales have been fashioned using a rotary tool eg a dremmel with a small round burr rather than a sharp blade or graver. It lacks artistry and refinement.
I believe this is what Piers aptly describes as a “netsuke like object”.

Apologies for disappointment…..but I suspect you suspected.

 

 

[Matsunoki]

@Bugyotsuji

Piers, I was not ignoring your ceramic netsuke……it’s just that I know nothing about them and have never even handled one. As you suggest, many (most?) have not survived to tell their tale. They do have a charm all of their own though. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Agreeing over Mike’s father’s dragon. A popular subject and a fun object. Sadly, probably designed to pass for the real McCoy, as Colin says.

It’s possible that ceramic Netsuke were worn in the humid summer as they are cool to the touch, and the Japanese are super sensitive to seasonal changes, as indeed they are with food. (I do have a couple more which I’ll post if the thread goes quiet.)

 

In the meantime I’ll be thinking about some other aspects of Netsuke for this thread.

[Dibdob]

I have what I believe to be a black jade hand carved netsuke I wondered if anyone could help with any information 

[Bugyotsuji]

Hi Deborah!

Thank you for having the courage to post here. All activity is welcome.

Your little Shishi or Foo dog is probably Chinese, judging by the material and carving style, so although Netsuke-like in size it’s better to think of it as a fun object, something cool in the hand on a hot summer’s day, or to hide in a bonsai pot or miniature garden. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Thinking now that I might just clear out this ceramic Netsuke angle by posting a couple more that I found at home recently. Watch this space.

 

In the meantime, Pietro has kindly contacted me and pointed out this excellent visual link to the book on the above-mentioned Silverman collection. Thank you!

https://archive.org/details/adornmentinclayc00laur

 

He has also included a link to FaceBook where former collectors from the International Netsuke Society's virtually defunct internet forum now gather.

Since I became allergic to F/B many years ago I am missing out by not visiting there. If anyone Facebook-oriented is interested in a serious scholarly group though, please visit there.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/netsukes

 

[Bugyotsuji]

This first is one of the seven gods of wealth and good fortune, Daikoku-Ten or Daikoku, with his magic hammer. A crude but genuine still-intact Edo-period Netsuke.

 

 

View of Uchide-no-Kozuchi hammer

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Continuing the ceramic theme this is my version of the Kyoto Daruma shown in the catalog posted earlier, maybe even cast from the same mold(?).

 

 

And the himotōshi holes.

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

This is a very old Kyoto fired pottery Netsuke possibly around the time of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which was broken at some point and lovingly restored with kintsugi. I wrote an article for Euronetsuké a few years back, after discovering that AFE is an old Portuguese word for AVE, faith, likely before the beginning of the banning and persecution of Christians. Naive view of the West?

On the back is a water dragon. New World - Old World?

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Finely carved Yixing-feel smooth brown clay mushrooms.

 

Topside

[Bugyotsuji]

And finally (for me) a later pottery mask by a well-known maker whose name escapes me. (Need to go back and find those notes.) These fun (upside down) ‘Onko’ Netsuke masks with similarly-glazed eyes can still be found today in various iterations, produced possibly between WWI and WWII.

 

 

Seal on reverse

[Bugyotsuji]

Please feel free to add comments or examples, and we can go from there.

 

In the meantime I will be mulling over a different angle, such as miniature inro (sagemono) sets, or metal Netsuke, i.e. something just a little different.

[PietroParis]

2 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

And finally (for me) a later pottery mask by a well-known maker whose name escapes me. (Need to go back and find those notes.) These fun (upside down) Netsuke masks with similarly-glazed eyes can still be found today in various iterations, produced possibly between WWI and WWII.

 

Hi Piers the seal is 石仙 Sekisen. Here is an excerpt from the Silverman Collection book:

 

 

 

Note that, if we trust an article by Takeshi Yamagata in INSJ 6/1, the signature list at the end of the Silverman book appears to swap the signatures of Sekisen I and II:

 

 

Also, there was a third Sekisen making Tokoname pottery in the second half of the 20th century.

[Bugyotsuji]

Perfect, Pietro! Many thanks.

[Matsunoki]

Well, this has all opened up a whole new angle on netsuke! Can’t quite believe I had missed a whole separate category but no ceramic netsuke had ever crossed my path.

An interesting subject and I will enjoy reading the book that Pietro has linked.

Thanks Piers, thanks Pietro.

[Bugyotsuji]

Aside from the dropped-and-broken aspect to fired clay netsuke, Richard Silverman amassed a huge collection, cornering the market, which surely increased the rarity of these.

 

Now Colin, perhaps you can better understand my simple joy at spotting that oblong haizara ashtray netsuke some posts above. I still remember the day too when that green Daruma figure appeared on the horizon! By the same token, although rare as hen's teeth, they will never really break the bank.

[Matsunoki]

Indeed Piers, I can understand your joy! Charming objects with an appeal all of their own and without doubt the rarest of all netsuke types. But, as you say, their rarity is not reflected in the cost of acquisition.  That makes a refreshing change within the Japanese Art market. What an excellent niche to search for without fearing for the health of our wallets. Trouble is they seem to be rather elusive…..but at least they haven’t been banned. 
My auto alarm will go off if I so much as smell one!

Happy hunting

[Bugyotsuji]

Yesterday I was round at Igor’s place and he showed me this wonderful heavy book by Ito on Katana-gaké 刀掛, Sword Racks.

https://iidakoendo.com/12729/

 

One thing that caught my eye was that many old sword stands had a special hook for an inro set, called an 印籠掛inro-gaké. Wealthy early to mid-Edo Bushi would remove their sword(s) and their sagemono set (Inro - netsuke - ojime) to be hung on the same rack! This indicates to me how close and valuable they both were to individuals of the warrior class.

[Bugyotsuji]

A good inro set can be horribly expensive. They were given to the Tokugawa Shōgun, who would in turn give them out to favo(u)red subject Daimyō. 
 

Here are three mid-level examples, nothing special, but just for adult size comparison in advance of the miniature ones. One netsuke is a lotus seed pod with rattly seeds, lacquered wood. One is a round ashtray bowl carved from tagua nut, vegetable ivory. On the right is a Shō flute in stag antler.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uAdvJMnlj_8

The black inro contains a leather-faced three-drawer medicine container.

(Matchsticks for reference)

 

Opened

[Bugyotsuji]

And here are some children’s (?) miniature inro sets. Note decorative use of various precious metals. 
Matchsticks for size comparison.

And opened

 

 

[Matsunoki]

13 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

A good inro set can be horribly expensive.

Too true……

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/22532/lot/13/shibata-zeshin-1807-1891-inro-medicine-case-with-butterbur-design-meiji-era-1868-1912-circa-1877-2/

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/19548/lot/316/a-fine-single-case-lacquer-inro-by-shibata-zeshin-1807-1891-meiji-period/

 

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/20189/lot/261/a-silver-lacquer-four-case-inro-by-koma-kansai-after-a-design-by-sakai-hoitsu-19th-century/

[Lewis B]

My first interest as a teenager cutting my teeth on Japanese antiques was Netsuke (like Colin, ivory seemed to be the primary medium at least in the UK) and lots of discussion on how to tell the difference between the natural material and resin copies. These were fairly widely available and while not cheap, attainable. 

[Bugyotsuji]

1 hour ago, Lewis B said:

My first interest as a teenager cutting my teeth on Japanese antiques was Netsuke (like Colin, ivory seemed to be the primary medium at least in the UK) and lots of discussion on how to tell the difference between the natural material and resin copies. These were fairly widely available and while not cheap, attainable. 

Instead of ivory, various other materials have risen in response, though nothing will quite replace it.

Other natural ivory includes mammoth and marine ivories which are a legally slightly grey/gray area, and then vegetable ivories.

Today those dealers who survived the engineered crash seem to be putting their emphasis on wood, stag antler, etc.

Wood can be lovely, but hard to photograph, and the quality of stag antler and carving never quite equals ivory on any level, IMHO. Kokusai ‘school’ antler Netsuke though do very well, mainly (?) thanks to Moss et al.

 

[Matsunoki]

Never seen any miniature inro before. You found all those in Japan Piers?

Never crossed paths with Sydney Moss &Co…..bit strange looking back, they had a reputation for being a bit “exclusive” I think so I never ventured in!!!

Wood has a different appeal to ivory and I think is wonderfully suited to subjects like monkeys and rats and tigers. Antler if used cleverly can yield some really lovely  “off the wall” works again with a totally different vibe. 
To me that’s the magic of netsuke….wide range of materials and subjects….and subtleties. They express, more than anything else, the intangible/undefinable  Japanese aesthetic. (Imo🙂)

Maybe I  should start collecting again?🙂?

[Bugyotsuji]

Quick answer, I hope, yes Colin, all those miniatures I found in Japan. Actually a couple of them I had wanted for many years, always on display at the same stall, but the dealer would not yield on the price and I could not justify the cost. They continued to appeal, however, and I even told some of my collecting friends about them. Imagine my horror when I got back to Japan one autumn and a friend handed them over.

 

"I did a deal with him, and now you can have them for only XYZ!" he said. 

 

Although he is a friend, he is not really that close, and I got angry with him. "Never do that again!" I said, "buying stuff without asking me first." I paid him a wedge of cash somewhat reluctantly, but secretly I was quite chuffed; he looked miffed. Today I am happy to have them and there is no pain.

 

I never met Sydney Moss, not consciously, but I became aquainted with Max R through visiting their shop in Mayfair, taken there by collector friends. I sold a coiled ivory dragon there which did exceptionally well.

 

Start collecting again.... ??? 

[Matsunoki]

4 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Start collecting again.... ??? 

🙂

[Bugyotsuji]

Metal
Continuing with fun objects, here are five (or six) metal Netsuke. 
 

The first three are 1. a hollow copper fan with a dark ladybird/ladybug on it, 2. a heavy teppō Netsuké (not a ‘netsuke-deppō’) and 3. a woven copper basket with two eggplants/aubergines inside. The basket has holes or gaps in places between the strands, showing that it is actually woven copper wire, i.e. not a single, solid cast piece.

 

Reversed