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Lot Essay
The signature Togyoku, referring to the applied relief decoration, is that of Togyokusai Takahashi Kiyotsugu, who died in 1894; works of his are recorded in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Baur Collection and the Khalili Collection.1 Although most often associated with large-scale bronze figures of samurai, the Miyao Company, whose signature appears on the opposite side, also manufactured or dealt in a wide range of craft goods. Apparently based first in Yokohama and then, after about 1890, in Nihonbashi-ku, Tokyo, the company is first recorded at the second Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai [National Industrial Exposition].2
1 Robert E. Haynes, The Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists (Ellwangen, Germany, 2001), p. 698 (H 03379); Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley, [eds.], The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art (London, 1995), vol. II, part 2, cat. no. 152
2 Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyujo [Tokyo National Research Institution of Cultural Properties], Naikoku kangyo hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku [Catalogs of objects exhibited at the National Industrial Expositions] (Tokyo, 1996), II 1163-4, 1176; IIIb 412, 632-3
1 Robert E. Haynes, The Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists (Ellwangen, Germany, 2001), p. 698 (H 03379); Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley, [eds.], The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art (London, 1995), vol. II, part 2, cat. no. 152
2 Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyujo [Tokyo National Research Institution of Cultural Properties], Naikoku kangyo hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku [Catalogs of objects exhibited at the National Industrial Expositions] (Tokyo, 1996), II 1163-4, 1176; IIIb 412, 632-3