A Japanese bronze and gold kozuka, (knife handle) Edo period, signed. Decorated with a fish, 9.5cm, width the estate of Frederic Lipbe.Frederic Lipbe was an artist who studied at the Slade School of Art, after which he worked with the master studio potter Bernard Leach. As well as working in clay he was a wood carver, a silversmith, and a printmaker. In the 1930s he taught at art schools in New Zealand including Wellington College. Prior to WWII he travelled widely in the Far East, and during these travels in the 1930s he acquired objects that interested him and which he found inspirational for his own creative work. These included many carved jades and netsukes. He returned to England at the outbreak of war in 1939. He died in 1968.His collections are now being sold by his grandchildren.