Lot description

Details

A mixed-metal-inlaid silver vase
Meiji period (late 19th century), signed Shigenobu, Shigenobu sen (carved by Onosawa Shigenobu) and sealed Ozeki sei (made by Ozeki)
The ovoid vase with long tapered neck, designed with two shibuichi panels elaborately inlaid in gold, silver, shakudo and shibuichi with swimming carp under trailing branches of wisteria, the lobed mouth rim inlaid in gold and copper with stylized wisteria, all against a silver body depicting roundels of dragon, phoenix and flowers, signatures on the panels and seal on base
9 ½ in. (24.1 cm.) high

Literature

Yokohama Museum of Art, ed., DAI KAI-KO: The Art of the period of opening the Port of Yokohama from Tokugawa Era to Meiji (Yokohama: Yokohama Museum of Art, 2009), no. 108.

Murata Masayuki, ed., Bakumatsu Meiji no kinko / Japanese metalwork of the late Edo and Meiji periods, Rokusho 32 (Kyoto: Maria Shobo, Ltd., 2007), p. 76.

Exhibited

Yokohama Museum of Art, “DAI KAI-KO: The Art of the period of opening the Port of Yokohama from Tokugawa Era to Meiji,” September 19-November 23, 2009

Quoted from the lot page, © Christie's. Christie's, AN INQUIRING MIND: AMERICAN COLLECTING OF JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART, 2016-04-15, lot 83 ↗