Netsuke, toggle of ivory

This ivory netsuke is of a man planing wood inside the section of a barrel. A netsuke is used to fasten an inro, a small lacquered container, which hung from the sash of a man's kimono. They became miniature art forms in their own right.

This rearview of the netsuke in which a man is making a barrel shows him planing the inside. The staves are held together with plaited rope of straw. The cord would have to be passed through the netsuke as there are no special holes, himetoshi.

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