A hammered iron vase

Meiji-Taisho period (early 20th century), signed Shigemitsu (Hirata Shigemitsu; 1855-1926) and Katsu...

Details

A hammered iron vase
Meiji-Taisho period (early 20th century), signed Shigemitsu (Hirata Shigemitsu; 1855-1926) and Katsu...
The iron vase with compressed bulbous body and long tapering neck, designed with waves, the mouth rim applied with a silver chiseled with a dragon and waves, the long neck encircled with a silver dragon finely cast and chiseled, the signature on base
9 5/8 in. (24.4 cm.) high

Literature

Kuo Hong-Sheng and Chang Yuan-Feng, chief eds. et al., Meiji no bi / Splendid Beauty: Illustrious Crafts of the Meiji Period (Taipei: National Taiwan Normal University Research Center for Conservation of Cultural Relics, 2013), p. 207.

Exhibited

National Palace Museum, “The arts and Cultures of Asia,” 2004. cat. no. 54.
“Meiji Kogei: Amazing Japanese Art,” shown at the following venues: Tokyo University of the Arts Museum, 2016.9.7-10.30. Hosomi Museum, Kyoto, 2016.11.12-12.25. Kawagoe City Art Museum, 2017.4.22-6.11. cat. no. 78.

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Lot Essay

Hirata Shigemitsu was one of the most prominent metal-hammering craftsmen of the Meiji and Taisho periods. He produced work mainly for the Imperial Household and also exhibited regularly in international exhibitions. With Kurokawa Eisho (1854-1917), Hirata initiated the metal-hammering division of the Tokyo Chokokai (Tokyo Society of Metal Artists), founded in 1887.
For a pair of silver vases by Hirata Shigemitsu in the collection of the Imperial Household, see The Era of Meiji Bijutsu-kai and Nihon Kinko Kyokai, in Meiji bijutsu saiken I (Reappraisal of Meiji Art I) (Tokyo: Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan, 1995), no. 27.

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