In
this beautifully carved and cast figural group, two shishi are seen frolicking
in a mock fight that is sure to end in dominance of the larger shishi, who looms
threateningly over the smaller pup. The composition is highly animated with flying
fur and resplendent shishi tails waving and curling in the air. The wriggling
limbs of the acquiescent underdog are finished to the last claw even though not
all these details are easily visible. True
to Japanese esthetic, the work is subtly carved and expressively powerful. The
surface is a lush terrain, the bronze has darkened to a rich deep brown/black
with much of the original gilding still in place on the animals’ ears. Equally
strong in its mass and in its parts; an exceptional work of art.
During
the Meiji, metalwork shared the prosperity of the ceramic industry, exhibiting
intrinsic understanding of material, care in manufacture and attention the detail
that constituted the norms of Japanese craftsmen in this period, particularly
in the fashioning of extravagant tsuba, or sword guards. Upper classes and samurai
traditionally carried two swords, a long and a short one, and lavished commissions
on the best known tsuba masters When carrying two swords was forbidden in the
late Edo, the market for fine tsuba. diminished and metalworkers of exceptional
skill shifted to creating various types of artworks for export, incorporating
western techniques which interested them into the new wares, which retained their
distinctive Japanese character and fineness.