Lot description

A pair of inlaid large bronze vases

By Miyabe Atsuyoshi, Meiji Period
Both vases decorated with a complementary design worked in gilt, bronze, silver and shakudo takazogan, one vase with sparrows in flight among snow-laden bamboo leaves on one side and three geese flying against the full moon towards a river bed of reeds on the other, the second vase showing a snake coiled around stems of bamboo and sparrows perched on overhanging cherry branches above carp swimming in a lotus pond on the reverse, the necks of both vases inlaid with two bands of stylised bats, butterflies and mythological beasts, the two sides of both vases inlaid with a baku climbing trailing vine above a foot decorated with a rain dragon; both vases signed Miyabe zo.
Both vases 36.1cm (14 3/16in) high. (2).

Footnotes

竹雀蘆雁・竹蛇桜下鯉図銅花瓶　一対　宮部篤良作　明治時代

Provenance: a European private collection.

Quoted from the lot page, © Bonhams. Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 2012-11-06, lot 530 ↗