FINE INLAID BRONZE 'MANTIS' VASE
BY MIYABE ATSUYOSHI OF KYOTO (ACTIVE CA. 1850-1900), MEIJI PERIOD
明治 宮部篤良 銅螳螂紋瓶of ovoid form, sensitively decorated in relief with a mantis on one side of the shoulder, reverse with three ants, signed in chiselled characters on the base Dainihon Kyoto no ju Ikkodo Miyabe Atsuyoshi (Ikkodo Miyabe Atsuyoshi of Kyoto in Japan), with a kao
17.5cm high; 1407g
Private Scottish collection, Renfrewshire
Miyabe Atsuyoshi (宮部篤良) was a master bronze smith who lived in Kyoto. He exhibited domestically and internationally at the turn of the twentieth century and at the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904.He is recorded in Wakayama Takeshi (若山猛), Kinko jiten (金工事典, Dictionary of Metalworkers), Tokyo, Token Shunju Shinbunsha (刀剣春秋新聞社), 1999, p.1141, as a maker of sword- fittings and a pupil of Shinoyama Tokuoki (1813-1891), active in Kyoto during the late Edo period and early Meiji era.