History: It’s not everyday that you long to hold a pouch of baby rats. But when they are Japanese netsuke, the urge to wrap your fingers around these ivory carvings may be irresistible. Netsuke ...

Reclining goat by Kaigyokusai Masatsugu (late 1800s), ivory with eyes inlaid in coral and dark horn pupils, Osaka, Japan (courtesy British Museum, gift of Professor John and Mr.s Anne Hull Grundy, all ...

The Japanese used a netsuke (pronounced net-skeh or netski) to suspend items from their belts in the last quarter of the 19th century. They had no pockets in their kimonos. The netsuke, comparable to ...

NETSUKE, intricately carved toggles designed to hang from the sash of a man’s kimono, appear to be back in fashion. Not as smart, decorative accessories, but as treasures to be enjoyed for their ...

Joseph Kurstin’s first netsuke was inexpensive and unattractive. But after five decades, the piece is still part of his collection, which now numbers some 800 examples of the Japanese art form. The ...

In September, 2013 a pocket-sized Japanese rat sold at Bonhams of New York for the US equivalent of €43,530. A sumo wrestler carved in wood, and measuring just 11cm tall, made €36,656. A standing ...

Japanese carved figurines, called netsuke, weren’t just cool works of art — they served a practical purpose as wardrobe accessories. A well-dressed Japanese man prior to the twentieth century could ...