We have not added them to the catalogue or done any research on them yet, but here are small images of the latest netsuke we have bought.
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We have five new netsuke. One is an ash tray netsuke, like N019, but in metal. There are also three seal netsuke (one may not be an actual netsuke). The seal impressions are shown opposite. Archaic seal script is difficut to read! The larger oval seal probably reads 適二居士. I am not sure what this says. 適 means rare, 二居 is the name Nii, Futai or Futatsui, and 居士 is the Buddhist term koji, that means layman. The smaller oval seal might read 樫畻, Kashikuro, although I am not at all sure about the second character. Further research is needed. I have finally managed to add a search facility that allows you to search on material, subject, key word, signature, etc. I think there are 11 possible fields. I have not yet managed to get searching signatures using Japanese kanji to work because of difficulties with Unicode character support in browsers. The search works for Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Internet Expolrer (possibly not older versions, but indexing is available on the wikispaces site). Fianlly yesterday I loaded all the images of the collection into slideshows. Clicking on any of the large images now leads to a more detailed description (subject, material, signature, etc.) We have tried to put something interesting about each item. Sometimes it is a folk tale: do you know what the result of a dragon mating with a cow is? There are also some recipes. We have just bought a lacquer writing-box at an auction on line. A writing-box (suzuribako) [硯箱] contained brushes, an ink-stone, ink-sticks and a water-dropper. Even during times when ostentatious clothes were banned in Japan, a writing-box was exempt from the restictions, and its decoration could reflect the status of the owner. The same argument was used with netsuke: although elaborate decoration may have been banned in clothing, a netsuke was an essential object to suspend an inro from, and even if it was elaborate, it was not a decoration. There is an example of a writing-box in the British Museum (much grander than the one we have bought). Below are a couple of images from the auction catalogue. We were hoping to buy a lovely silver inro from the auction, but we were beaten, and think that it is now going to China. It is a shame because it was really nice.
I have also created a twitter feed related to this site!
I have just started a facebook page. There is a link at the top of most pages, and on the right of this blog. Please visit!
For those who may be interested, I have put the XML database that contains the details of the netsuke colelction on the site. This means I can generate the HTML pages as they are loaded. Perhaps more interestingly, I have got the first 10 netsuke [N001] to [N010] and the two inro [I001] and [I002] in the Images slide show. Click on the large images to get to the details. Below is [N005], which is a favourite because the flowing curves make the angel really look as if she is flying. It is, however, difficult to photograph because it will not sit easily on a flat surface.
I have just started this blog (my very first), and I'm not entirely sure what it should include. I will be making a new site for the netsuke collection, but probablly keeping the wikispaces site as well. People are welcome to join the site and contribute to discussions there. I will also keep the wikispaces site for the Japanese prints and other works on paper. Here is the latest netsuke we have bought. It is beautifully carved in incredible detail, given that it is small (only 2.9 cm high). It is signed by Nyosen [如泉], although the first character is not entirely clear. The details are on page N099 of the other site, and a picture is below.
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AuthorI have been collecting netsuke and Japanese prints for several years, and hope that by sharing the colelctions, others might share the enjoyment. Archives
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