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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 4404196, member: 2844&quot;]Very charming little frog and bug on lotus leaf. The lotus leaf symbolizes purity, the frog good luck and prosperity.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t see any evidence of it being a netsuke (two small cord holes close together), so I consider it an okimono.</p><p>A netsuke served as a toggle to carry purses etc because traditional dress didn&#039;t have pockets. The purse or inro (small box) was suspended from a cord which passed under the obi or sash waistband and was held in place by the netsuke, which sat on top of the waistband. So there was a direct link between traditional costume and netsuke.</p><p>An okimono is a Japanese decorative object, usually small. Okimonos became fashionable in the late 19th century, when there was a decline in the wearing of traditional Japanese dress.</p><p>The netsuke makers turned to making small decorative objects, with the same detail as netsuke. Although most okimono are carved ivory, some are other materials, including cast metal.</p><p><br /></p><p>In this link is a bronze frog on lotus leaf netsuke, you can see the two small cord holes in the side of the leaf, in front in the first photo:</p><p><a href="https://www.liveauctioneers.com/en-gb/item/66825483_japanese-meiji-bronze-frog-on-leaf-netsuke" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.liveauctioneers.com/en-gb/item/66825483_japanese-meiji-bronze-frog-on-leaf-netsuke" rel="nofollow">https://www.liveauctioneers.com/en-gb/item/66825483_japanese-meiji-bronze-frog-on-leaf-netsuke</a></p><p>You can also see that the lotus stalks are also curved like on yours, but they are not used for the cord, it has the specific netsuke cord holes.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Copper can oxidize to a dark colour. The Japanese work with many different alloys, made up of metals in different percentages. If yours is pink underneath, it is likely to have a high copper content.</p><p>I suspect it is &#039;yamagane&#039; or &#039;mountain metal&#039;, which means unrefined copper with natural inclusion of other metals.</p><p>Historically, yamagane was used before the Japanese learned to refine metals, pre-1600s. However, there was a revival of the use of yamagane for small objects in the 19th century, which included patination to make items look like old yamagane.</p><p>The process of patination is called &#039;niiro&#039;, which translates as &#039;cooked metal&#039;. This link explains niiro:</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niiro" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niiro" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niiro</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Just to show the type of metal and patination, the site below has examples of 15th-16th yamagane pieces. Needless to say, your frog is not that old, it is a 19th century okimono which seems to be made in &#039;revival&#039; yamagane.</p><p><a href="http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/yamagane.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/yamagane.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/yamagane.html</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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