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Japanese netsuke, Itinerant bookseller

Image attached to O.78-1991

An image of Netsuke: katabori: Itinerant bookseller. Unknown maker, Japan. An itinerant merchant carrying a heavy pack of books on his back, wearing knee length robes and a wide, rounded hat; a gong is suspended from his waist and he holds a mallet in his right hand. His left hand is raised and the object he was holding is missing. The characters inscribed on the back of the pack read `The 66 provinces of Japan' (the last character is not the correct version of province). Himotoshi formed by the stand on the base of the pack. Ivory, carved and stained, height, whole, 7.6 cm, width, whole, 2.9 cm, circa 1800-1868. Edo Period (1615-1868).

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About this image

Netsuke: katabori: Itinerant bookseller. Unknown maker, Japan. An itinerant merchant carrying a heavy pack of books on his back, wearing knee length robes and a wide, rounded hat; a gong is suspended from his waist and he holds a mallet in his right hand. His left hand is raised and the object he was holding is missing. The characters inscribed on the back of the pack read `The 66 provinces of Japan' (the last character is not the correct version of province). Himotoshi formed by the stand on the base of the pack. Ivory, carved and stained, height, whole, 7.6 cm, width, whole, 2.9 cm, circa 1800-1868. Edo Period (1615-1868).

Image data

  • Accession Number: O.78-1991
  • Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
  • Aperture: f/32.0
  • Focal length: 100
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D
  • Photographer name: Image Library; Fitzwilliam Museum
  • Image height: 1025 pixels
  • Image width: 475 pixels
  • Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
  • Filesize: 302.18kB
  • Exposure time: 1/30
  • ISO Speed: 100
  • Fnumber: 32/1
  • Captured: 2000:01:02 02:07:04

Key words

19th Century book-seller books bookseller carrying carved Edo Period Fitz_AA gongs hats himotoshi itinerant ivory Japanese katabori male merchandise merchants netsuke pile pile of books robes seller selling stained vendor

Colours in this image

rgb(168,131,82), rgb(217,217,220), rgb(104,68,35), rgb(201,177,137), rgb(217,201,171), rgb(169,145,113), rgb(122,100,84), rgb(170,169,166), rgb(182,171,164), rgb(132,121,108), rgb(188,188,188)

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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Japanese netsuke, Itinerant bookseller" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-2636118383 Accessed: 2024-12-23 16:44:34

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-2636118383 |title=Japanese netsuke, Itinerant bookseller |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 16:44:34|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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