A recent gift of netsuke complements the Gallery’s existing holdings of these carved Japanese decorative items. Gifted to the QAGOMA Collection by Patrick and Mary Mahoney, the story of these objects spans nineteenth-century travel, trade and a Brisbane family’s generational legacy, and touches on our enduring fascination with ‘minis’, writes Zenobia Frost.

Collecting mini objects might seem like a modern preoccupation, but history proves our obsession with all things tiny is timeless. The Japanese fashion of wearing carved miniature sculptures as clothing fasteners or toggles, known as netsuke, dates to the seventeenth century. The Gallery’s holdings of netsuke are perennial favourites with visitors and staff alike; however, the objects’ journeys from nineteenth-century Japan to Brisbane — with a few stops along the way — speak to a fascinating era of global exchange.

During Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868), netsuke became accessories that married function and fashion. Finely crafted from ivory or wood, the tiny sculptures were once worn to secure an obi (sash or belt); the earliest incarnations developed into the circular, button-like manjū netsuke. By the mid-1800s, when Japan opened its borders to trade with the West, the craft of carving netsuke had reached a high level of sophistication. Their popularity as collectibles in pre-war Europe attests to an era of cultural exchange, one with a wide-ranging influence on design, art and fashion across both Europe and Japan.¹

Recently, a group of 53 netsuke and two okimono (literally, an ‘object for display’, slightly larger than netsuke) were gifted to the Collection by Dr Patrick Mahoney in memory of his wife, Dr Mary Mahoney AO. Of this number, 20 netsuke were originally collected by Mary’s grandfather, Dr Eugen Hirschfeld (1866–1946). A German citizen, Hirschfeld arrived in Brisbane from Prussia in 1890 and became a pioneer in tuberculosis prevention.² His career saw him cross the globe multiple times, and he likely collected these objects during return visits to Europe to attend medical conferences.

Eugen’s son, Dr Konrad Hirschfeld (1904–87), inherited the family passion for medicine, but also his father’s collection of netsuke. In turn, Konrad made sure to share both with his eldest daughter, Mary Mahoney. Early in their marriage, Patrick recalls enjoying Sunday roasts at the home of his new father-in-law, who would often bring out the Hirschfield collection after dinner. Captivated, Mary and Patrick — already collectors at heart — began keeping an eye out in antique stores for netsuke of their own. When Konrad passed away in 1987, the Mahoneys acquired Eugen’s original group from his estate, continuing a family tradition that had, by this time, spanned a century.³

Beyond artistic curiosities, these refined miniature sculptures are also readily portable — even on long journeys that require travelling light. Because of this, netsuke collections often hold stories of migration and resilience during the turbulent early twentieth century. Patrick and Mary’s gift, for example, complements a substantial group of netsuke bequeathed to the Gallery in 1984 by art historian Dr Gertrude Langer, who brought the diminutive treasures to Queensland when she fled Austria in 1938.

Netsuke are carved in thoughtful detail from every angle — even their undersides. Standing just two or three centimetres tall, they tend to depict mythical figures, from mischievous tanuki priests to oni (demons); spiritual motifs from Zen Buddhism, such as Daruma dolls; or highly expressive people and animals at work, rest or play. Across Eugen Hirschfeld’s netsuke, motifs point to the cultural dialogues that flourished during the Meiji era (1868–1912), with examples of figures in European dress, British domestic dogs and Indian elephants.

Seeking out these objects — their extraordinary detail, their size and their weight in the hand — became a joyful habit for the Mahoneys. Influenced by his own medical career, Patrick’s favourite is an exquisite skull okimono, anatomically perfect and ‘absolutely alive’, with its twined snake and frogs. Another is a bat, tucked away in its wings, which reminds him of a Notre-Dame gargoyle. Mary’s style differed — she favoured a fish leaping out of water, and a little fishing boat complete with fishermen casting nets. Once, Patrick gave Mary a wooden rabbit netsuke with tiny flowers blooming at its feet, telling her they were forget-me-nots. ‘It was never an investment’, Patrick shared. ‘We just bought what we loved.’⁴

Zenobia Frost is Curatorial Assistant, Asian and Pacific Art.

Endnotes

1. Adapted from research by QAGOMA curator Tarun Nagesh, July 2015.
2. CAC Leggett, ‘Eugen Hirschfeld’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006, viewed 9 April 2025.
3. Patrick Mahoney, telephone conversation with the author, 23 July 2025.
4. Mahoney.