The netsuke artform is a cultural phenomenon unique to Japan which emerged and took firm hold in the Edo era (1603–1868). A netsuke is a miniature sculpture with a hole running from top to bottom through which a silk cord was passed to connect the small figure to some other object of no great weight – the sagemono (“suspended thing”). Originally netsuke had an exclusively utilitarian purpose, acting as a counterweight or stopper to keep small personal belongings, such as a medicine box or tobacco pouch, attached to one’s belt. They were worn in that way since none of the articles making up traditional male costume had any pockets.

An exhibition devoted to the art of netsuke was already held in the Hermitage back in 2016. This one has an absolutely new composition and tells about the main centres for the carving of miniature sculptures and the leading exponents in this field in the 18th–20th centuries. Thirty-two items have been selected for display from the stocks of the State Hermitage, while a further 153 exhibits come from six private collections.

The majority of early netsuke were not signed by their creator as that tradition did not become established immediately. Nevertheless, it is possible to see works in the exhibition whose authorship has been established: figurines of a male and female buffalo carved by Tomotada, one of the most celebrated masters in the whole history of this artform, the founder of a school of miniature sculpture carving in Kyoto. The display also includes works by the carver Masanao, who chiefly depicted animals. Among his most recognizable creations are tigers with chubby cheeks and bushy brows. The exhibition introduces visitors to works by Yoshinaga and Yoshitomo: Chokaro Sennin, Hotei with a Chinese Boy (Karako) and Okame with a Ball of Snow. These two craftsmen almost entirely abandoned the depiction of animals, focussing their efforts on recreating personages from Chinese legends.

The main centres for netsuke carving formed both in Japan’s capitals and in provincial cities: Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Gifu, Tsu, Wakayama, Edo and elsewhere. Distinctive characteristics can be identified for each centre in the works of miniature sculpture, In the Kamigata region that included the cities of Osaka and Kyoto, the netsuke were marked by an economical usage of ivory. The composition was frontal, since it was assumed that a figurine would only be viewed straight on, against the owner’s belt. Among the works of this kind, mention can be made of a Mongol Archer and Ashinaga-Tenaga. Netsuke produced in Iwami province, in the south-west of the island of Honshu, were marked by the use of locally available boar tusks and rare varieties of wood. In the eastern capital, the city of Edo, an independent school of netsuke-carving came into being later than in Kyoto and Osaka. Typical for its output were depictions of characters from Japanese literature and scenes of daily life.

Thanks to the work of acknowledged masters of netsuke, the miniature sculptures turned from utilitarian objects into true works of art, the diversity of which will be reflected in the exhibition in the Picket Hall.

The exhibition curator is Anna Vasilyevna Savelyeva, head of the Far East Sector in the State Hermitage’s Oriental Department.

The exhibition has been prepared in collaboration with the Netsuke Collectors’ Society (the CIS section of the International Netsuke Society). The works from private collections have been provided by their owners: Daniil Borshchev, Alexander Kulish, Victor Puzniansky, Pavel Savransky, Maxim Surnov and Igor Cheremikin.

A scholarly illustrated catalogue in Russian has been published for the exhibition – Mastera netske. Miniatiurnaia skul’ptura Iaponii XVIII–XX vv. iz chastnykh kollektsii i sobraniia Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha (Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Publishing House, 2024).