Articulated stag beetle

Japanese Articulated Model Insects

Bugs in the museum? While normally we do everything possible to keep insects out of our galleries, we welcome these tiny metal creatures as part of the current installation “All Creatures Great and Small.”

At first glance, you may not see any connection between these insects and the metal objects on view in the “samurai” gallery next door; but in fact there is a close relationship. During times of peace and tranquillity, Japanese armor and helmet makers—who were masters of metalwork—began to try their hand at making decorative metal objects (okimono) with articulated (movable) parts, using many of the same techniques they used to make armor.

The earliest known articulated animals were made in the early 1700s, but the art form really took off after the Meiji restoration of 1868, when samurai were no longer allowed to wear armor or carry swords. These small curiosities were especially popular in Europe and America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Each part of these insects and other critters— including antennas, heads, thoraxes, abdomens, wings, legs, and even stingers—is jointed to move individually. Wrought from metals of various colors, these creatures seem practically alive when picked up!