By Oshima Yasutaro (Shokaken), signed ShokakenJapan, Meiji period (1615-1868)Supported on a separately cast two-tiered base, allowing the vase to be turned, with intricate, dense diapered designs and key-fret bands as well as supports in the form of flying sparrows, the lower base with shallow relief depicting a stream. The tapering sides rising from a waisted circular foot to a galleried rim, each side showing a different depiction: a peasant lady and young child; sparrows and peony; the demon queller Shoki dressed as a sarumawashi with an oni on a leash; and a hawk and sparrow amid prunus. The underside of the vase cast with the signature SHOKAKEN.HEIGHT 26.4 cmWEIGHT 4,347 gCondition: Very good condition with minor wear, occasional light scratches, few minuscule nicks, and minimal casting flaws.Provenance: French private collection.Oshima Yasutaro (artist name: Shokaken) was born to a prominent family of metalworkers in 1849 and was a son of Oshima Takajiro. Together with his younger brother Oshima Joun (1858–1940), he successfully ran a studio called Sanseisha and produced bronzes of the finest quality. In Recollections of Oshima Joun, by Katori Hozuma published in 1941 by Tokyo Chukin-kai (Tokyo Cast Metalwork Association), he talked of his older brother who died young as being of the first rank of bronze metalwork artists in 1878, producing works of the very highest quality and commissioned for the world exhibitions. Shokaken indeed exhibited his works at numerous international expositions, including a metalwork incense burner at the Vienna World Exposition in 1873, which is now housed in the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art, Vienna. (Illustrated inArts of East and West From World Expositions 1855-1900: Paris, Vienna and Chicago (Commemorating the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan), (Osaka, 2004), p. 20, plate I-16).