#japanese netsuke

[sheltiechicago]

‘A Cluster Of Rats’, A Japanese Netsuke (Small Sculpture) Dated Late 19th Century

Instagram: archeology_and_art

[hobohobgoblim]

Netsuke of Mother Bat with Two Young, Hō-raku, 19th century

[suchananewsblog]

Edmund de Waal: Decoding stories of exile

Twelve years ago, I discovered The Hare with the Amber Eyes, a memoir by celebrated British ceramist Edmund de Waal, in a book store in Edinburgh. It was another year before I read it and it became my all-time favourite book. Over the years, I have gifted it to friends, family, those I met at work and oftentimes to complete strangers. I’ve given away over 300 copies to a mix of people whose…

[snailspng]

Sparrow netsuke PNGs.

(1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.)

[heaveninawildflower]

Netsuke of a white rabbit (mid-19th century) by Ōhara Mitsuhiro (Japanese, 1810–1875).

'In Japanese folklore, a rabbit lives in the moon where he pounds rice cakes or prepares the elixir of immortality.'

Image and text information courtesy The Met

[arthistoryanimalia]

Dancing Fox 踊狐

Japan, 18th c.

Ivory with dark staining and sumi (ink)

2 13/16 × 1 13/16 × 1 in. (7.14 × 4.6 × 2.54 cm)

LACMA AC1998.249.69

[emmaklee]

meditating skeleton netsuke

Meiji-period Japan

[acrosscenturiesandgenerations]

▪︎ Ivory netsuke, in the form of a skeleton leaning on a corn stalk with a rabbit nibbling at its elbow.

Culture: Japanese

Date: 18th or 19th century

[jstor]

Netsuke are miniature sculptures originating in 17th-century Japan. These are just four quirky examples that caught our eye, but you can find nearly 4,000 open images on JSTOR of these beautiful objects.

PS The second image is of Tanuki, a mischievous raccoon dog in Japanese mythology commonly associated with excessive drinking and gluttony. This ivory netsuke depicts Tanuki carrying, um, his grossly enlarged scrotum.

The three images with black backgrounds come from the Wellcome Collection and the white one is from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, two open access collections on JSTOR.

[fromthedust]

netsukes

Kaigyokusai Masatsugu (Japanese, 1813-1892) - Sleeping Cat - ivory with sumi, red pigment - latter half of 19th century

Naitō Toyomasa - Wasp on Hive - wood - Japan - Edo period, 1800-1850

Sleeping Man with Monkey Steals Contents of Basket - ivory - Japan - 19th century

Rat atop a Bale of Rice - Japan - mid-19th century

Yamaguchi Okatomo - Hen and Chicks - ivory - Japan - mid- to late 18th century

Puppies at Play - ivory - Japan - Meiji period - late 19th century

Asahi Gyokuzan - Raven Perched on a Skull - wood, ivory - Japan - mid-19th century

Daruma - wood - Japan - 19th century

Roaring Shishi - ivory - Kyoto school - Japan - early 19th century

Snarling Tiger - ivory, inlaid eyes in horn - Japan - early 19th century

[artschoolglasses]

Netsuke, Crouching Figure of a Skeleton, Japanese, 19th Century

From the Met Museum

[victusinveritas]

Carved ivory netsuke depicting a mouse traveler, attributed to the 19th century, Japan. Signed by Gyokuseki.⁣

⁣

[fallbabylon]

Netsuke memento mori - Science Museum, London

[the-puffinry]

Netsuke of Bird Cage, Edo or Meiji period, Japan.

[rayless-reblogs]

Mysterious Extinct Japanese Cow-Horse

"Wushi-uma" taken from Wikimedia, from 1934.

I'm currently reading Year of the Wild Boar, a memoir by Helen Mears about her time spent in Japan in the mid-1930s. Without context or explanation, she quotes several accounts of an isolated, unique horse breed called the "Ushi-uma". It lived only on Tanegashima Island and was said to closely resemble a cow (ushi-uma means "cow horse"), primarily for having no mane or hair on its tail. According to Wikipedia, the breed was extinct by 1950.

Ushi-uma netsuke taken from zacke.at.

Has anyone ever heard of this beast? Is this a hoax? It doesn't look inordinately cowlike to me -- it has the heavy forehand and less developed hindquarters you see in Przewalski's horses. But the hair thing is weird. Does anyone on horseblr have ideas about the mane and tail?

Apparently it had government protection but was still extinct within a matter of decades. I wonder if WW2 played a part.

[heaveninawildflower]

Pigeon-Shaped Flute (Japan, mid-19th century) by Ōhara Mitsuhiro (Japan, 1810-1875).

Ivory with staining.

Image and text information courtesy LACMA.