Antique
netsuke carved from the very tip of the tusk, with concentric striations and crosshatching,
in a light cream color with age patina and a glossy surface. Carving of multiple
animal netsuke presents a challenge to the netsukeshi, requiring ingenuity in
design and knowledge of animal anatomy. Such pieces display an intriguing use
of compositional devices to place many creatures into a small hand-held object,
here attaining ten fully depicted cranes. Since the crane is said to live a thousand
years, this carving with its ten cranes is a talisman for a long life of at least
ten thousand years. In recent years children, almost entirely unaided, began a
movement and established a globally recognized symbol of the hope for world peace
in the folded paper crane.