Washington and Lee University
Sept. 1, 2009 - Dec. 20, 2009
Introduced in 14th century Japan, the netsuke would hang from a kimono’s obi or sash by a cord to attach the container in which Japanese men stored their personal belongings such as pipes, tobacco, money, seals, or medicines. These ancestors of the toggle soon became elaborately sculpted from ivory, lacquer, wood, and other exotic materials like rhinoceros horn or walrus tusk. The netsuke in the Washington and Lee Collection come from distinguished alumnus, Joseph M. Glickstein.
