Catalog (1381)

Late 19th to early 20th century Chinese agate carving of a goose standing in a stream by the rocks as it pecks a flowering peony bush. Beautiful stone, clever use of its natural color to differentiate the bird from the plant, excellent quality carving, high polish to the surface. Height 1.6 inches.

18th century small Chinese agate carving in a shape of a peony flower, was used to be sawn onto clothes. Beautiful carnelian agate with wonderful finish. Height 11/16 inches (18 mm).

18th century small Chinese agate carving in a shape of a double gourd with tassels, was used to be sawn onto clothes. Beautiful carnelian agate with wonderful finish. Height 11/16 inches (18 mm).

Late Ming Dynasty (beginning of the 17th century) small fine celadon jade plaque for sawing onto clothes with carved design of a Chinese Immortal wearing a long robe and holding a tall staff. Beautiful material, true nephrite jade, nice work, wonderful feel of age. Height 1.27 inches, weight 7.2 grams.

Late 18th to early 19th century carving in a shape of archaic Chinese chime stone. Beautiful celadon color material, true nephrite jade, wonderful work, in perfect condition. Length 2.3 inches, weight 15.4 grams.

Late 18th to early 19th century small fine white jade plaque / pendant with pierced and carved design of a Chinese scholar wearing a wide robe and standing on rockery. Beautiful material, true white nephrite jade, wonderful work, in perfect condition. Height 1.26 inches, weight 4.2 grams.

Late 19th to early 20th century small Chinese jade carving of a coin, each side with a low relief carving of 2 bats in flight among clouds. Beautiful true nephrite jade of white color, very good carving, beautiful finish to the surface, very pleasant to hold. Diameter 0.7 inches, weight 5 grams

Late 19th to early 20th century Chinese jade carving of a resting dog, its head turned back. Wonderful true nephrite jade of celadon color, very good carving with great sense of volume, beautiful finish to the surface, nicely heavy, very pleasant to hold. Length 2 1/8 inches, weight 116 grams.

Rare 19th century Japanese stoneware Kuro Oribe chaire (tea caddy for storing powdered green tea used in tea ceremony) of cylindrical shape with rounded shoulders. Comes with very well made shifuku (silk brocade storage bag). Beautiful free potting, typical elliptical lines on the foot left by a string used to cut off the piece from potter’s wheel. Characteristic kuro (black) Oribe beautiful rich glaze enveloping most of the sides with one open area painted in underglaze brown with lines and d...

19th century or earlier Japanese sword set of fuchi (bordering piece between the sword guard and the handle) and kashira (metal pommel at the end of the hilt of a sword) with gilded relief design of small birds in flight by clumps of bamboo, all on finely punched ground texture called nanako, which means “fish-eggs” as it resembles fine rows of caviar. Excellent quality work, in great condition. Kashira length 1.4 inches, fuchi length 1.52 inches.

Japanese glass ojime in a form of tombodama bead with blue and red core, four pink petaled flowers with numerous white stamens, leaves and fine tiny silver foil inclusions. Tombodama can be translated as “dragonfly ball” and the name is thought to come about because when the molten glass is applied to the core bead it resembles a dragonfly’s eye. Superbly made piece - see the individual stamens and finely textured petals, in perfect condition. Height 0.77 inches.

Late Meiji to early Taisho (1910s) Japanese boxwood okimono of a sleeping monk. The subject is a metaphor for a failure to reach enlightenment - instead of seeking and understanding the profound power of Buddha’s teaching the monk falls asleep. Nicely carved, wonderful tranquil face, pleasant patina. Signed YOSHIHISA on the bottom - for information on the artist see NETSUKE & INRO ARTISTS AND HOW TO READ THEIR SIGNATURES by George Lazarnick, p. 1232. Height 2 inches.

Late Meiji (1890s to 1910s) Japanese pink coral obidome (sash ornament) with carved decoration of a blooming rose. Obidome is worn on an obi cord that holds the obi sash together, it is the only type of jewelry worn by Japanese women on formal occasions, and could serve as netsuke as well. Clever design, wonderful carving, very beautiful natural coral, nice finish and patina. Metal fixture with two loops on the back for an obi cord (marked 14K, but looks like nickel plated brass. Length 1.65 inc...

Late 19th century small Chinese / Tibetan mala - Buddhist rosary consisting of 108 Chinese angel skin coral prayer beads and 4 jadeite ones that serve as spacers dividing the prayer beads into groups of 27 each. Must have been made for a child as the beads are small (about 4 mm in diameter). True white coral with beautiful areas of slight pink. Traditionally Buddhist rosary of 108 even-sized beads is used for mantra recitation. The thread represents the continuity of the buddhadharma piercing th...

Rather unusual late Qing Dynasty (1890s to 1911) Chinese seal carved out of a natural boulder. The stone is of military green color, softer than jade and appears to be magmatic in nature - see the folds of its outside produced by cooling of the rock. The impression of the seal is shown on the third photo which is flipped left to right to present the image as it will print on paper. Beautiful surface, four crisply carved raised characters on the bottom, wonderful patina, traces of red seal paste ...

Late Qing Dynasty (1890s to 1911) Chinese soapstone seal carved on the top with crouching one-horned chimera. Inscribed with 6 characters on the side. The first photo shows the image of the bottom flipped left to right, so the seal can be read. Excellent carving, wonderful face and body bulk, beautiful patina. The bottom is carved with raised characters, red seal paste in the grooves. Very beautiful variegated peach colored stone with red areas giving extra depth to the carving. Wonderful object...

Vintage Chinese wooden stand of rectangular shape with 4 short legs. Beautiful dark dense rosewood with wonderful patina, in excellent condition, good object for a scholar’s desk. Size 114 x 87 x 37 mm.

1930s Japanese plastic kushi (hair comb) with embedded gold tone metallic flower design and 2 types of mother of pearl inlays depicting magical rain hat and and Daikoku’s mallet, design continuing on the back. Very well made, wonderful work in Japanese taste, 2 losses to inlays (handle of the mallet and a leaf on the back), otherwise in great condition. Length 3.82 inches. Part of East Coast collection of Japanese hair items.