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 ...

Inada Ichiro (Japanese, 1891-1979) was an important 20th century netsuke artist. For centuries, the Japanese have used miniature sculptures hung by cords from the sash of their traditional garments ...

In the hands of Japanese netsuke carvers like Ryushi Komada, something quite mundane becomes sublime. From a simple block of wood emerges a delicate and expressive face, the sense of movement in the ...

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 ...

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 ...

NETSUKE” ARE MORE than just cute, miniature Japanese carvings that appeal to many collectors. They were used as toggles on the obi or sash of Japanese robes, either the kosode or kimono, which had no ...

Miami ophthalmologist Joseph Kurstin may have taken collecting to its greatest extreme. A passionate collector of miniature Japanese sculpture called "netsuke" for more than 40 years, Kurstin has ...

Netsuke are those darling carved toggles that appear to hang as decorations from obi but actually have a very practical role in the traditional dress ensemble. Since traditional Japanese garments have ...

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 ...

Our antiques expert Allan Blackburn looks at the art form of 'netsuke' from Japan... Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Lancashire Evening Post, you can get unlimited access to the website ...

The British ceramicist Edmund de Waal will promote his memoir, “The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family’s Century of Art and Loss” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), during a two-week tour of the United States ...

They usually are not more than a couple of inches long — in many cases, they can be concealed in the palm of your hand. Open that hand, however, and you might gaze at the object for hours, turning it ...