Large button Netsuke with a design of the story of Shiranui Montogar, Signed ‘Reigyoku’, Japan, About 1850-1900, Museum No. 564-1904. Dresden Bequest.
Netsuke are miniature sculptures, usually out of ivory. They were invented in 17th century Japan to serve a practical function. Japanese clothing—kimono—had no pockets. How then, could men carry their pipes, tobacco, money, seals, or medicines?
They placed these objects in containers (called sagemono), which they hung by cords from the obi (the sash). These containers could be pouches or small woven baskets, but usually were crafted boxes called inro, which were held shut by an ojime, (sliding beads on cords). Whatever the type of container, the fastener that secured the cord at the top of the sash was a carved, button-like toggle called a netsuke.
Netsuke production was most popular during the Edo period in Japan, from about 1615 to 1868.
People have been wearing jewelry practically since the beginning of time, and there are few things more enjoyable for the lover of jewelry to page through the many books on the subject to see the intricate designs that have been made throughout the ags.
The Barbor Jewel is one of many pieces of jewelry described in Jewels and Jewelry: 500 Years of Western Jewelry from the World-Renowned Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, by Clare Phillips.
The Barbor Jewel is a pendant consisting of a sardonyx cameo of Queen Elizabeth I of England, framed with rubies and diamonds in an enamelled gold frame. The cameo is surmounted by a crown made of three rectangualar diamonds, with a cluster of pears descending below the cameo.
The back is decorated with an oak tree.
Family tradition claims that this piece was commissioned by Richard Barbor, a Protestant, who was saved from the stake by Elizabeth’s intervention.
However, experts cast doubt on this story because the style of the enameling, and the queen’s costume, indicate a date of around 1600, fourteen years after the time when Barbor died.
The pendant is also on display at the Victoria and Albert website: 