Japanese silvered bronze owl signed Mitani sei Meiji period

Japanese silvered bronze owl naturalistically modelled perched on a gnarled tree trunk with plum blossom worked in silver and gold, inlaid glass eyes having details in shakudo and gilt with feather work finely rendered in kebori, signed in a rectangular reserve Mitani sei 三谷製 (made by Mitani) with fitted original wood stand, Meiji period (1868-1912).

The owl (fukuro) is symbolic of luck and good fortune.

For a similar bronze owl by the same artist see: 'The Golden Age of Japanese Okimono, the Dr. Kanter Collection' by Laura Bordignon, ACC Woodbridge 2010,  Metalwork pg. 244.

Also see Frederick Baekeland 'Imperial Japan, the art of the Meiji era, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York 1980. Catalogue no. 106: a bronze work of an eagle perched on a stump by the same artist Mitani.

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