is a Japanese term meaning "ornament for display; objet d'art; decorative object", typically displayed in a alcove or altar.
Etymology
The Japanese word compounds and .. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the loanword as "A standing ornament or figure, esp. one put in a guest room of a house", and records the first usage in 1886 by William Anderson.
Description
An may be a small Japanese carving, similar to, but larger than . Unlike , which have a specific purpose, are purely decorative and are displayed in the . An can be made out of wood, ivory, ceramic or metal.
One subcategory of is the , an articulated figure often made out of bronze or iron.
are normally not larger than a few centimetres. They depict all sorts of animals, mythological beasts, humans, gods, fruit, vegetables and objects, sometimes combined with each other, in all sorts of positions. Sometimes a scene is portrayed as well, either a daily scene or from a story.
Anything that could be carved or made into a small object can be used in an . Some were inspired by a group of objects and were supposed to be shown together as an ensemble.
History
During the Meiji period, many were made for export to the West. One of the most renowned artists in the area of metalwork was Yamada Sōbi (1871-1916), who made pieces out of a single sheet of metal.
References
External links
Netsuke: masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains many example English online dictionary definition, related information, and various visual examples