Netsuke Carved in Shape of Folded Letter on Paper Decorated with Court Motifs

This realistic design of autumn ivy, a common sight in Japan, is a motif that recalls the episode in Tales of lse (chapt. 9), in which the poet, traveling to the east along a dark and narrow route overgrown with ivy on Mount Utsu, crosses paths with a wandering ascetic returning to the capital to whom he entrusts a poem of love. The ivory netsuke represents a love letter on paper decorated with courtly designs of paulownia and symbols for the chapters of Genji used in incense games

Credit: Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1910