SIGNED SAITO, MEIJI PERIOD (1880S)

Details

A Pair of Bronze Vases
Signed Saito, Meiji Period (1880s)
Of pale-brown patinated bronze, in standard baluster form but with square-cut bases, each with two panels decorated in shibuichi, silver, copper, gilding and a few areas of enamel with morning glories and a trellis on one panel and crane and cherry trees on the other, the necks each with two stylised floral motifs, the mouths with a band of Greek-key pattern, each signed on the base in raised seal-style characters on a sunken gilt plaque Saito
8 5/8in. (21.9cm.) high (2)

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Lot Essay

Saito Zenbei, one of a number of craft commisioners listed in an official publication in 1877, ordered work from several of the most important metal artists of the day, including Unno Moritoshi, Toyokawa Mitsunaga, and Okawa Teikan. He received second prize at the first Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai [National Industrial Exposition] in 1877.¹
1Hida Toyojiro, Exporters of Meiji Decorative Arts, in Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley (eds.), The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art (London, 1995), vol. I (London, 1995), (70-95), p. 90.

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