Portland Japanese Garden is excited to present a selection from our collection of netsuke in our winter exhibition Masterpieces in Miniature: The Art of Netsuke Sculptures. Netsuke (pronounced nets-keh) were personal fashion accessories that were used to help hang small items such as pipe cases, tobacco pouches, or medicine boxes from the sash of a man’s kimono. These exquisitely crafted sculptures take a myriad of forms, from animals, mythical figures, and folktales to scenes from everyday life.
On December 16th, members are invited from 9am-10am to get a first look at the exhibition and experience these delightful artworks firsthand.
Guest curator, Dr. Peter Doebler, the Kettering Curator of Asian Art at Dayton Art Institute, will provide a brief introduction to the exhibition, sharing details on the art pieces, the techniques used to create them, and the stories that inspired them throughout the hour.
Doebler is the Kettering Curator of Asian Art at the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton, Ohio. He specializes in religious aesthetics, especially Japanese and Euro-American traditions. Since joining the Dayton Art Institute in 2016, he has curated exhibitions across the museum’s collection, including: Samurai, Ghosts and Lovers: Yoshitoshi’s Complete 100 Aspects of the Moon; Pondering the Mystery of Late Life; Buddhist Art: An Enlightened Thread through Asia; and Devoted: Visual Performances of Faith. He holds a PhD in Art and Religion from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and is the author of the book Is the Sublime Sustainable? A Comparative Aesthetics Approach to the Sublime (Brill, 2023), as well as articles, encyclopedia entries, and reviews that span aesthetics, film, art, and religion.
The Pavilion will be open at 9:00am Wednesdays-Mondays (Garden closed Tuesdays) for member access throughout the Exhibition.
