Lot 112: A TRIPOD BRONZE FLOWER-VASE BY TAKAMURA TOYOCHIKA (1890-1974)

Signed Toyochika, Showa Period (1950s-1960s) With mottled silver-coloured and dark brownish-green patination, the form imitating an archaic Chinese ding, the body with an everted mouth and flat rim supported on three hollow cylindrical legs cast with vertical lines, the shoulder cast with eight broken rounded rectangular nested motifs, signed underneath with a cast mark Toyochika, with fitted wood box bearing the signature and seal of Takamura Toyochika 7 3/8 x 9 3/16in. (18.7 x 23.3cm.) NOTES Born in Tokyo in 1890, the third son of the wood-carver and sculptor Takamura Koun, Takamura Toyochika graduated in 1915 from the Metalwork Department of Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko [Tokyo Art School] where he evidently studied under Tsuda Shinobu (see Lot 110). As a member of the Kokkosha [Dark Radiance], Mukei [Formless], Jitsuzai Kogei [Real Craft] and other groups he promoted the modernisation of the traditional crafts before joining Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko first as assistant and later, in 1933, as full professor. A regular exhibitor at the the official Teiten [Imperial Exhibition] and its successors, after World War II he served as a member of the Nihon Geijutsuin [Japan Art Academy]. In 1964 he was named Mukei Bunkazai Hojisha [Holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Property] in the chukin category. Takamura's metalwork is characterised by simplicity, high technical skill and a refined modernist aesthetic. 1 1 Tokyo Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan Kogeikan [Crafts Gallery, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo], Gendai Nihon kogei no shusaku [Masterpieces of Contemporary Japanese Crafts] (Tokyo, 1978), cat. nos. 105-7 and biographical supplement.