Netsuke (根付) and ‘The Hare with the Amber Eyes’

©2019 Jewish Museum Vienna

It’s always interesting when tutors turn lectures into Show and Tell. Simon did this a lot during Constructing Japanese Heritage—most notably a skull and some dogu figurines. However this week was the first time I’d ever come across netsuke (根付) outside of a picture.

Netsuke are small carvings—the ones Eugenia brought were of highly polished wood—which serve both a practical and aesthetic function. They’re not very large, easily sitting in the palm and are incredibly detailed, as well as shiny from contact with the oils in people’s hands, the kind of sheen which takes years to acquire.

I had a bereavement a few days before the lecture but looking and examining these netsuke really brought me into the present and I forged a weird connection with the pieces. During discussion, I argued they were the person period-specific equivalent of modern jewellery (like the AURYN I always wear) but on a much simpler and more addictive level. These tiny artefacts serve an aesthetic but also a practical purpose, allowing individuality but also serving to express the personalities of the owners.

©2022 Asha Bardon

©2022 Asha Bardon

The main focus of the day was, in fact, The Hare with Amber Eyes, a 2010 memoir by Edmund da Waal, which looks at the family’s collection of netsuke which has been passed down the generations of this Jewish banking family and were eventually returned to the family’s one-time home, the Ephrussi Palace, in Vienna for an exhibition in 2019.

Much of the da Waal’s art collection was confiscated by the Nazi’s in 1938 when Vienna was taken to become the latest part of the Third Reich. However, because of their size, the family’s 264-piece netsuke collection was spirited away after being hidden in a mattress by a maid.

I’d not heard of the memoir prior to the lecture and was quite surprised that Japanese collectibles would be so important to an Austrian Jewish family, as well as becoming their defacto legacy when it came to an art-form which is both practical and beloved. Each of the pieces, including the titular hare, have their own charm and beauty but their adventure through time and survival against an infamous regime made the collection all the more extraordinary.

It was a fascinating exploration of how something so Japanese became so important to family who, due to their religious and cultural heritage, lost everything during a time of world-wide upheaval. However, the icing on the cake was, of course, seeing them return to Vienna for an exhibition where they had centre stage whilst also igniting a new generation’s interest in collecting netsuke.