Netsuke in the form of a horse, carved ivory, Japan, 18th century.

This carved and stained ivory netsuke is in the form of a grazing horse with the tethering rope lying over its body in a haphazard manner. The netsuke is a toggle. Japanese men used netsuke to suspend various pouches and containers from their sashes by a silk cord.

The most widely used materials for making netsuke were traditionally ivory or wood. Throughout the Edo Period (1615-1868), ivory from the Indian elephant was imported by Chinese and Dutch traders. The subjects of netsuke were often originally suggested by the shape of a particular material, as with this grazing horse. The great popularity of the horse as a netsuke subject is also connected to its being one of the 12 animals of the East Asian zodiac, which derives from Chinese cosmology.

A netsuke portraying any of these animals was particularly associated with the New Year festivities of the appropriate year, but could also be used at any time during that particular year, and again 12 years later in accordance with the cycle.