Japanese bronze figure of Artisan
524
Property from the Estate of an English collector
A Tokyo School bronze figure of a labourer
By Kaniya Kuniharu (fl.circa 1869), Meiji Period
The old man seated cross-legged on a tree stump, his short loose tunic falling off his emaciated frame, his head resting on his left hand as he falls asleep, the other hand holding his hoe, a kinchaku and netsuke-manju suspended from his belt at the reverse, signed in sosho script Kaniya Kuniharu saku and numbered three.
49.5cm x 24.5cm (19½in x 9 5/8in).
Estimate:
£3,000 - 4,000
JPY 450,000 - 600,000
US$ 4,700 - 6,300

Footnotes

  • 銅置物　農夫　蟹谷国晴作　明治時代

    Kaniya Kuniharu was one of the foremost craftsmen in cast bronze of the Meiji Period. He had been taught by two particularly eminent artists, Takamura Koun (1852-1934) and Otake Norikuni (b.1852). Koun, a master of wood sculpture, had been appointed Professor of Sculpture at the founding of the Tokyo Art School in 1889.

    Kuniharu himself was one of the founding members of the Tokyo Chukin Kai (Tokyo Cast Metal Association) in 1907 together with Oshima Joun (1858-1940). He exhibited at both National and International exhibitions, including the Paris Exposition of 1900; the high quality of this bronze group suggests that it could very well have been conceived for exhibition in the West.

    Compare with the maker's other examples of fine-quality bronze pieces in the Khalili Collection, illustrated by Joe Earle, Splendors of Imperial Japan, Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection, pp.370 and 372, nos.263 and 264.

Category: Asian Art / Japanese Art

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Suzannah Yip Bonhams
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Specialist - Japanese Art