Netsuke: stack of coins

1750

Netsuke carved from ivory, depicting a pile of coins, probably as a netsuke that merchants liked to wear, possibly as a kind of talisman to increase wealth. The recognizable coins - all of rather low value, with square holes - are an Eiraku tsuho, imported from China in the Muromachi period, where it was first minted in 1408. In the middle is a so-called Wado kaiho, the earliest coin minted in Japan itself (708), and what almost looks like a copy of a Dutch coin, with two sitting heraldic lions (?), a bowl with peaches (?) and a Chinese sceptre. The reverse shows a Kanei tsuho and a representation of the Japanese lucky god of wealth, Daikoku, with his rice bales.