Netsuke in the form of a peach with a monkey

Netsuke in the form of a peach with a monkey is held by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe. Museum description: The netsuke, carved from an antler, shows a little monkey sitting on a peach.

The monkey holds a branch with leaves in its hand. The triangular composition probably resulted from the organic shape of the bone substance. Like all fully sculpted pieces in the round, this example belongs to the type known as »katabori-netsuke«. A »netsuke« (pronounced: netske) is a toggle with two holes for the cord. It was loosely attached to the Japanese obi (= belt) as a counterpart to a so-called »inro« and was thus part of traditional Japanese clothing associated with the kimono.

In the accompanying pouch, the inro, wealthy merchants, artists, and craftsmen carried their seal, their stamp ink, and later also their medicine. Netsuke frequently refer in their design to poetry and mythology of Japan. The almost in The museum record gives measurements Height: 4.0 cm, Width: 3.4 cm, Depth: 1.6 cm. These details come from the holding museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.