Rosemary Bandini

Specialising in antique netsuke and inro, Rosemary Bandini started her career in the Japanese department of Sotheby's in 1977, before marrying Luigi Bandini of Eskenazi Ltd. With him she worked on the preparation of exhibition catalogues until 1996, subsequently organizing two further exhibitions for Eskenazi.

She has been a private dealer since 1998. She has made a reputation writing books about netsuke collections, including Shishi and Other Netsuke, the collection of Harriet Szechenyi and Tiny Titans, the sumo netsuke collection of Karl-Ludwig Kley.

She is editor of Euronetsuke and on the editorial board of the Association Franco-Japonaise. In 2010, following a joint project co-ordinating a netsuke symposium in London, she formed a partnership with Max Rutherston, organizing the International Netsuke Society's conventionin London in 2013, the first time this biennial event has been held outside the USA. To coincide with this event, Rosemary curated an important exhibition of Japanese Netsuke from European collections, held at the Embassy of Japan, with its accompanying catalogue: In a Nutshell.

After a highly successful collaboration, Rutherston and Bandini parted company in 2013 and Rosemary Bandini Ltd was established.

In 2013 she was appointed to the board of the International Netsuke Society as its European representative. Based in the London area, she now deals privately, producing catalogues of her stock and travelling extensively buying and selling fine Japanese works of art.