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Netsuke Inro
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 86mm Collection Japanese Boxwood Inro Fish Handcraft Netsuke Fee Shipping 1X  US $53.99
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The magnificently awesome artistic works of casting with bronze is an art form that has been practiced for many centuries now, and by most every civilization around the world has long used bronze for most everything imaginable. Bronze has been historically used in the various makings of weapons, such as guns, knives, cannons, cannon balls, shields, and protective wear during invasions or protections from others during invasions. Bronze has long been used to make protective fortress doors, locks and bronze bars or chains in protection of the past and even in today's present.
Bronze would also be used in the makings of various types of money such as seals and other kinds of coins. Bronze has been used in the means of commonalities during everyday living such as eating utensils, bowls, plates, cups, and cooking kettles. Bronze also very quickly and easily found its way into the world of most every imaginable art formation possible.
After the initial discovery of the metal known as bronze, this extremely strong metal became quickly preferred due to its strength, beauty and versatilities. The world's artists of past and present found the medium of bronze to be very easy to artistically manipulate, and it is a metal that is highly resistant within the means of corrosion. Besides the metal alloy of steel, there is no other type of stronger metal than bronze, and bronze is so easily and quickly adapted to the processes of molding and casting too.
Every artist of the past and present within history has long preferred working with bronze due to the many wonderful possibilities that so easily comes from working with the material of bronze. From statues large and small to every day needs, bronze can not be beat in this awesome metal. In today's artistic world of bronze makings, it is the Lost Wax Casting method that most all bronze artists tend to choose for their artworks. But there are several other types of casting methods too.
But no matter if the bronze working artist is from the past or the present, when it comes to bronze statue making it is more often than not the patina that is added to the bronze artworks that can truly personalize the bronze piece of art. Since the colorings and the amount of patina is an artistic personal choice, the patina variations are vast and wide. Depending all upon the personal looks and distinctions that the artist is truly looking for, there are now many bronze artists that are choosing a highly polished glossy glow within their bronze artwork instead of the various choices of patina, or both the patina and high amounts of polished shine.
Anita Satin Choudhary writes for Ivory and Art Gallery. Browse the gallery for unique collection of artifacts ranging from Bronze sculpture to Netsuke and Mammoth Ivory.
Netsuke & Inro Really Belong Together!
Netsuke
Japanese netsukes are superb little carvings, mostly made out of ivory or wood, as handling pieces, or toggles. So one good way of judging a good netsuke is to handle it – it should feel very comfortable and interesting, in the hand, having no sharp points Netsuke are often only about an inch high, yet these tiny sculptures are very powerfully carved and so full of character.
Each netsuke will always have a couple of linked holes (or a deliberate gap often between a tail or leg) for a cord to be attached so that they could be used as a toggle. They were then most often attached to an inro. Yet there are many collectors that only collect netsuke without owning any inro.
Inro and Ojime
So what is an inro? These are finely decorated lacquer containers, consisting of a number of interlocking compartments (often between 3 – 6 sections) all held together on a cord. An ojime (decorative bead) was then threaded onto the cord that once pushed down towards the inro, kept all the compartments closed. Ojime can be exquisitely carved metal, ivory or stone beads. These inro were then used for carrying such small personal items as seals and pills and became fashionable with the Kimono.
The kimono had no pockets so the inro, held closed by the ojime, would be worn hanging from the sash; the netsuke was then, pushed up under the sash, thus trapping and holding the inro in place.
The Japanese lacquer work on inro is so beautiful, yet it is such a difficult medium to work with as well as being a time consuming process. Not only does it involve building up a very large number of layers before any decorative work can be introduced, but there are also then several different very fine skills required in completing the decoration. Techniques involve using coloured lacquer, shell inlay, metal work and amazing applications of tiny bits of gold. What is extraordinary too, is that having completed the decoration, the lacquer and any metal, or shell decoration, often can be quite thick, yet all the inro sections fit into each other so smoothly that when the inro is closed, all one can see, are very fine lines that are really the dividing gaps between the various compartments.
The designs used by the lacquer artists were not only very finely executed but were often deliberately worked around both sides of the inro in such a way as to maximise curiosity – thus forcing one to want to turn the inro over to see what is on the other side.
What does seem a pity these days is that there are collectors that only collect netsuke, or inro, some even only collect the ojime! No doubt this has a great deal to do with the escalating cost of these treasures, but really these particular Japanese antiques all belong together. It is so much more satisfying to find the ideal netsuke and ojime that relate well together with a favourite inro. To simply own an inro and ojime (these are often sold together) but without a netsuke makes the inro look so incomplete.
About the Author
John N. Cohen A past director of Jacey Cinemas Ltd. Later the proprietor of a design & photographic studio, now a director of Jacey Homes Ltd., a property development company. Interests and Hobbies: A top international award winning photographer who also became a well known Asian antiques collector and an enthusiast of Jensen British classic cars. Other interests are skiing and Salsa dancing.
For John’s other interests please have a look at: - http://www.jncohen.net
To see more articles with photographs please use the following link: -
http://www.jncohen.net/antiques/articles.htm
For more about Netsuke and inro please use the following link: -
http://www.jncohen.net/Netsuke/index.htm
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