Max Rutherston began his career working with paintings at Sotheby’s.
In 1992 he joined their Japanese Department and became the department’s Director five years later. In 2002 he left Sotheby’s and moved to London’s oldest Asian art gallery, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., where he helped manage the gallery and run the Japanese side of the business for 8 years. Since 2010 Max has operated from Bury Street, St. James’s, London where he specialises in netsuke, inro and other Japanese works of art.
Max has worked on prestigious publications and scholarly catalogues on
netsuke and other Japanese works of art. He has also been pivotal in organising symposiums on netsuke and was a Director of Asian Art in London for 17 years and Chairman for 4 years.
He regularly visits Japan, and in the last year has delivered lectures on netsuke in Oslo, Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as exhibiting, this year alone, four times in France.
