Edo period (18th-19th century), signed Kiyoharu (Myochin Kiyoharu)

Details

An iron articulated sculpture of a lobster
Edo period (18th-19th century), signed Kiyoharu (Myochin Kiyoharu)
The iron lobster constructed of numerous hammered plates jointed inside the body, the body bends and the eyes, antennae, limbs, fins and legs move, the details finely carved and chiseled, signature on one of limbs
11 ¼ in. (28.6 cm.) long
With double wood boxes

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. 280.

Exhibited

Preparatory Office of the National Headquarters of Taiwan Traditional Arts, “Japan Arts of Meiji Period; Asia-Pacific Traditional Arts Festival Special Exhibition.” 2011.7.8-2012.1.8. cat. p. 110.
“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. 11.

Brought to you by

Priscilla Kong

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Lot Essay

The spiny shell of this lobster is very intricate and it requires extraordinary effort and technique to create such magnificent details from a sheet of iron.
Articulated sculptures by Myochin Kiyoharu are extremely rare. There are articulated models of a dragon in the British Museum and an eagle in the Tokyo National Museum. For the eagle in Tokyo National Museum, see Harada Kazutoshi, ed., Jizai okimono / Articulated Iron Figures of Animals, Rokusho 11, special edition (2010), pl. 17.

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