Japanese kagamibuta with a fly resting on a man's head

An image of Netsuke: kagamibuta. Unknown maker, Japan. Circular bowl, plain with indented ridge around the top edge and traces of green staining to inner rim, central himotoshi. Shibuichi disc, cast and decorated in relief with a fly resting on top of a man's shaved head above the wrinkled brow, the face cut off at the nose. The man's hand is raised as if to swat the fly. Finely stranded hair and eyebrows in shakudo and copper, the man's eyeballs in shakudo and copper, and the fly's eye is applied with copper. Ivory bowl with cast, metal disc decorated in relief and eyelet. Height, whole, 1.8 cm, width, whole, 4.2 cm, circa 1800-1868.

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Netsuke: kagamibuta. Unknown maker, Japan. Circular bowl, plain with indented ridge around the top edge and traces of green staining to inner rim, central himotoshi. Shibuichi disc, cast and decorated in relief with a fly resting on top of a man's shaved head above the wrinkled brow, the face cut off at the nose. The man's hand is raised as if to swat the fly. Finely stranded hair and eyebrows in shakudo and copper, the man's eyeballs in shakudo and copper, and the fly's eye is applied with copper. Ivory bowl with cast, metal disc decorated in relief and eyelet. Height, whole, 1.8 cm, width, whole, 4.2 cm, circa 1800-1868.

Image data

Accession Number: O.37-1991
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/32.0
Focal length: 100
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Photographer name: Image Library; Fitzwilliam Museum
Image height: 955 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
Filesize: 92.55kB
Exposure time: 1/30
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 32/1
Captured: 2000:01:01 17:25:07

Key words

19th Century cast circular copper disc disk faces facial expressions Fitz_AA flies fly himotoshi insects ivory Japanese kagamibuta male man metalwork netsuke relief round shakudo Shibuichi disc

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025)
            "Japanese kagamibuta with a fly resting on a man's head"
            Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-214823 Accessed: 2025-12-06 04:11:11

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            {{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-214823
            |title=Japanese kagamibuta with a fly resting on a man's head
            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-06 04:11:11|publisher=The
            University of Cambridge}}

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Japanese kagamibuta with a fly resting on a man's head</figcaption>
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