19 SEPTEMBER 1925, Page 24

This authoritative and historic account of shale known branch of

Japanese art, of which genuine examples may still be dis- covered without difficulty or expense, should appeal to the small collector. Netsukes, carved objects worn at the girdle, delight eye and touch by their Lilliputian virtue and are always surprising, since no two are identical. Humorous, satirical, .or patient in form, they record minutely a foreign life, emperor, nobleman, clown, exotic fauna and the adventurous figures of oriental myth ; and they are carved wonderfully from sandal- wood, bamboo, gold, ivory, and even the bones of mermaids, or in prosaic terms, the lower jaw of the shark.