Japanese Leather Tobacco Pouch with Mammoth Netsuke

This powerful 19th century Japanese netsuke was carved from an ancient mammoth tusk. Traditional Japanese clothing didn’t have pockets, so men and women carried fans, eyeglasses, money, tobacco, and incense in pouches attached to their belts. At the time, wealthy people gave beautiful pouches like this to one another as gifts. This fine example with such a striking bead would have been highly desirable and considered a status symbol. It is mounted on a custom iron stand.

This item cannot be shipped outside of Illinois.