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Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Inro decorated with peacock, ojime, and netsuke
Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Inro decorated with peacock, ojime, and netsuke

Date19th century
Label TextInro are containers for small personal items such as seals and herbal medicines. Japanese men of the Edo period (1603–1868) wore them hanging on the obi (sash) of their kimono. The small bead called ojime tightens the inro’s cord. Netsuke, intricately carved toggles, were attached at the end of the cord to prevent the inro from slipping through the obi. By the eighteenth century, both inro and netsuke had become more elaborate and decorative and were commissioned by merchants, samurai, and others who could afford them.
Object number35.665
Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.
Credit LineDuncan MacTavish Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions.a H.: 3 in. .a W.: 3 1/2 in. .a D.: 7/8 in. .b H.: 1 5/8 in. .b W.: 1 3/16 in. .b D.: 3/4 in.
MediumLacquer, agate, and ivory
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Japanese
19th century
Object number: 35.106
Inro, Ojime and Netsuke
Japanese
ca. 20th century
Object number: 33.327
Photo: Paul Macapia
Japanese
18th - 19th century
Object number: 33.329
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
late 19th century
Object number: 91.138
Inro, Ojime and Netsuke
Japanese
mid 18th century
Object number: 55.52
Inro, Ojime and Netsuke
Japanese
18th century
Object number: 52.133
Inro, Ojime and Netsuke
Japanese
ca. 20th century
Object number: 33.326