Japanese bronze group of Shinto performers signed Miyao Meiji period

Japanese bronze group of Shinto festival performers wearing eboshi hats, the details finely worked on grounds of rich brown patination and robes decorated with gilt mon motifs. One is holding a gohei zig zag paper banner used to purify and bless the temple while the other is holding a invocation script scroll, signed in a rectangular gilt reserve Miyao zō 宮尾造 the wood lacquered base with stylised ho-o and foliate scrolls, Meiji period (1868-1912).

Size of the bronze group without wood base: H 25cm (9.84" in.) x W 21cm (8.26" in.)

The Miyao Company founded by Miyao Eisuke 宮尾栄助 had premises in both Tokyo and Yokohama, produced fine bronzes with a rich brown patina and gilded details. The Company exhibited at the National Industrial Exposition (Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai) in 1881.

Reference: 'The Golden Age of Japanese Okimono, the Dr. Kanter Collection' by Laura Bordignon, ACC Woodbridge 2010, Metalwork no. 241, 258, 260, 262, 264, 266.

Also see: 'Meiji no Takara 明治の宝 Treasures of Imperial Japan, the Nasser D.Khalili Collection', Metalwork Part II, no. 108.

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