The collector: Rosy Burman, Warwickshire (UK).

The collection: Netsuke.

The story behind the collection...

Netsuke are miniature sculptures originally from seventeenth century Japan where they were used as toggles to secure pouches which held personal possessions, as the kimono had no pockets. These would have been quite plain initially but they evolved over the years into objects of great artistic beauty with generations of sculptors specializing in one animal only, for example a toad or a writhing trio of rats.

I first became aware of Netsuke when I visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, as a child. They are so perfect and pure, the very essence of the creature.

I think that the first Netsuke were carved from wood, ivory or bone but when the West discovered Japan and the fashion was for all things Japanese, an export market was created to satisfy demand and in the last thirty years with the advent of plastic and resin, many major museums with shops, including the Victoria and Albert, the Ashmolean and the British Museum, all started selling reproductions of their collections and I was hooked.

What is it you like about them?

When I first went to Art College, I wanted to be a sculptor but my tutors were concerned that as a small and very slight person (that was then!) I would just not have the stamina to complete the course! So I did a Fine Art degree instead.

Later in life I became a jeweller and felt like I was producing, in my own way, small sculptures in silver, wood and leather.

Netsukes are tiny, perfect sculptures. Also they are really easy to display as they barely take up any room. My own collection is displayed in an old wooden printers dye holder, attached to the wall like a picture frame with lots of little openings for the Netsuke.

Do you have a favourite?

My favourite is possibly a very simple duck but it’s really hard to choose .

I am always on the lookout for more Netsukes to add to my collection but in the last few years, the quality of the models made in the Far East has deteriorated with very poor detail.

My own preference is for fruit, vegetables, birds and animals. It is possible to find carvings of the human form but those are not for me.

Do you have any other collections?

I also collect small china figures of women ( used to top powder puffs, tea cosies and knitted lavatory roll holders), ceramic tiles and latterly, fridge magnets in the form of food.

Images © Helen Powell with the kind permission of Rosy Burman