Object Description
A Meiji period patinated bronze vase by Kiryu Kosho Kaisha, the baluster body applied with gold, silver, bronze and copper designs of bogbean and arrowhead plants with a frog, dragonfly and butterfly all on a green ground.
Literature: Toyojiro Kida, Kiritsu Kosho Kaisha, The First Japanese Manufacturing and Trading Co.
Kuritsu Kosho Kaisha was set up by the Japanese Government to promote export in crafts after the success of the Japanese exhibits in the Vienna World Exhibition of 1873. As a commissioning agent, the company ordered work from many famous artists in all branches of the decorative arts and had three factories producing metalwork, ceramics, lacquer, Shibayama and embroideries. The firm expanded into stores in New York (1876) and in Paris (1878). The company was dissolved in 1891.