The netsuke is a toggle. Japanese men used netsuke to suspend various pouches and containers from their sashes by a silk cord. Netsuke had to be small and not too heavy yet bulky enough to do the job. They were made in a variety of forms, this one being an example of the manju type, named after a kind of rounded, sweet dumpling filled with bean paste that it loosely resembles in shape. The compact form of manju netsuke made them ideal for wearing next to the body. They were either solid or consisted of two pieces, generally in the form of hollowed-out halves, as in this example. The suspension cords usually passed through a hole drilled in the middle of the back and were then attached to a ring on the inside of the upper half.

This netsuke is decorated with floral roundels in gold lacquer. Lacquer is the sap from the tree Rhus verniciflua, which grows mainly in East Asia. After processing, it is applied in many thin layers to a base material. The craft of lacquering is highly complex, time-consuming and expensive.

From the 18th century onwards, netsuke were increasingly signed with the artist’s name. This example is signed Moei. There were two lacquerers whose names were traditionally read Moei, or alternatively Shigenaga or Shigehide respectively. Both worked from the late 18th to the early 19th centuries. Japanese characters often have several different readings. Retrospectively and for less common names, it is not always clear how they were read. So, in this case, the artist is usually referred to as Moei, or Shigenaga or Shigehide.