City gifted Japanese treasures; Millionaire businessman's priceless collection unveiled in Liverpool.

Byline: ALAN WESTON

PRICELESS collection of Japanese treasures collected by a Swedish millionaire businessman has gone on display at World Museum Liver pool.

The intricately- carved miniature objects - called netsuke - were amassed by Jonas Gadelius, who grew up in Japan and was a member of a Swedish steel manufacturing family.

Although he was fully occupied in running the family business for most of his adult life, he started collecting netsuke as he neared retirement age.

This developed into a full blown passion after Mr Gadelius moved to London and added more and more pieces from around the world to his collection.

Although he only visited Liverpool he was impressed with the range of

Japanese art held in its museums.

After his death in 2003,his Japaneseborn widow, Gabita, decided to donate 128 pieces -around half the total collection - to National Museums Liverpool (NML).

Mrs Gadelius travelled to yesterday's official unveiling from her home in London's exclusive Eaton Square.

She said: "Jonas always wanted to collect netsuke, but he had no time because he was responsible for 2,000 J apanese employees.

"So I said 'why don't you retire slowly, so you can go around the world collecting', and this is what he did.

"He loved the feeling of holding the netsuke in his hand.

"He had a connection with

NML because he helped them to select oriental arts, and he also had a passion for Liverpool and its football, so it seemed natural to donate part of the collection here - even though some dealers thought I was crazy because it is so valuable." Netsuke were originally worn as kimono sash toggles and were a highlyprized fashion accessory.

Their heyday was the 18th and 19th centuries but they are still carved today.

They can depict any subject, with early examples showing myths and legends, to modern ones reflecting everyday life such as snails crawling on soft drink cans.

Emma Martin, curator of Asian collections at NML, said: "We've been really lucky to get a collection such as this from a contemporary collector, because tastes were changing and it includes less familiar pieces.

"Jonas's widow could have made a lot of money by selling them, but she wanted to keep them together and allow people to appreciate them." A custom-built case has been created to house examples from the collection.

They will be changed regularly.

Among the star exhibits are a tiger, a skilfully-carved snail on a mushroom made from fossilised wood, and Japanese figures created in the 20th century.

Other highlights in the collection include a depiction of a rotting pear with insects inside, a rare boar tooth, and carvings of sea slugs and other creatures..

CAPTION(S):

Gabita Gadelius Emma Martin, curator of Asian collections at NML, with a tiger example of netsuke Some of the mini marvels on show at the museum