Studio: international art (2.1894)

Japanese Netsukes

his netsukes are engraved, but his merits have in so arranging the composition as to avoid pro-

always appeared to me very questionable. An- jections that might be broken off by being caught

other maker of painted netsukes was Kurobei, in the wide sleeves of the upper garment. I have

who forged many of those bearing the signa- a group of four stags in ivory so posed that the

ture of Shiuzan, which he added. A third antlers run no risk of fracture. There is no lack

maker was Jakenouchi Yasuhei, of Kishiu. About of figures of sacred personages, but they are

the same period as Shiuzan, there flourished chiefly some of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune,
Akamatsu, Akamasa, and the two Demes, Joman ^-->.
and Uman, all well known for their small masks
carved in wood.* Our information as to the
dates of the netsuke makers and their schools is
very meagre, dates being totally absent in Shoken
Kisho, so that we can only make guesses from
the style of their work. The first eminent artist
among them was Miwa, who lived in the early part
of the eighteenth century, and who was followed
by other members of his family, and by several BY RANTEI

talented pupils such as Waryu and Niwa, called also or shoki> often treated in a style very different

Futaba. The first Miwa was more remarkable for from that of the « butsuji," or idol carvers, and

expression and artistic feeling in his netsukes than with but sman show of reverence,
for their finish. His works are rare, and forgeries The skilJ of these netsuke makers in the use of

of them common, nor is it easy to distinguish his theil. t00is [s a constant source of wonder and

signature from that gratification in looking through a good collection

of Miwa the second, of tneir w0rks. In these little figures, usually less

whose style is very than an jllcj1 and a half in height, the expression

similar. He worked of the heads is absolutely perfect; the pose of the

in wood, most fre- body ;s true and Hfe-like, and if the details of the

quently in ebony, hands and feet are often neglected, it is not from

but it is said that incapacity, for I have a small ivory group, one and

four or five ivory five-eighths high, where not only are the fingers of

netsukes by him the hands spread out, but the very finger-nails are

exist. Some experts indicated.

by tame-taka

profess to recognise Another example of this capacity for truth of
a genuine Miwa by detail, is shown in their representations of children,

its sinking in water, but that is absurd, as it merely especially in the single figures carved in wood.

indicates the specific gravity of the wood, and These are often really ethnological studies, perfect

Tomotada and others also worked in ebony. types 0f the little Japanese children. We find the

It is from this period that the remarkable works peculiar cast of countenance, the tightly drawn

of netsuke makers date, and I attribute their eyelids, the shape of the features, and the mode

character mainly to the growth of the realistic and 0f wearing the hair, rendered with the greatest

popular schools of painting. Artists had felt the

necessity for studying more from nature and less

from the Chinese classical school, and we have a

long succession of makers of fine netsukes reaching

through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

almost without a break. In the single figures

more especially, we find, instead of the impossible

festoons of drapery of the old school, textiles

falling naturally, and carved with exquisite skill bv tomo-tada

and truth. Great ingenuity is shown by the

designers of netsukes, who were often the carvers, truth> the character of the limbs and hands being

usually followed with equal care. These are

* It has been recently stated in the " Kokkwa " that the generally called " Kara-Ko," or Chinese children,
names of the two Demes should be read Takamitsu instead . r , ,, T

of Joman, and Sukemitsu instead of Uman. and some, of course, have not the Japanese type,

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