Category: metal work

Maneki Neko

Maneki Neko, Edo Period, Japan, 8.3 Inches High x 6.3  Wide x 4.3

Maneki Neko beckoned guests and customers into inns and shops. Most were humble creatures and very few early examples exist. Instead of raising a paw to call money like his brethren, this cat tips a right ear, curling it forward in welcome.

This okimono is in the form of a cat with its paw resting on a Shinto shrine bell, the bell articulated to open sideways revealing a compass. The cat is made of cast, cold-chiseled and gilt bronze with inlaid glass eyes; the compass is made of cast, cold-chiseled and gilt bronze with a glass cover. The reverse has holes for pin attachments for a now missing base. This was crafted in the Edo period, 1700 to 1830.

It may be that this feline sculpture beckoned for a dealer in scientific instruments, compasses, telescopes and microscopes. If so, only the metropolis of Edo (now modern Tokyo) would have supported such a specialist shop. Such a merchant would travel to visit feudal daimyo clients, almost the only people with the means to purchase his wares and afford the medium of gilt bronze. They loved surprises and fashionable karakuri or mechanical toys.

Bronze Rabbit Okimono

Artist Unknown, Bronze Rabbit Okimono

Okimono in the form of an alarmed plump rabbit, made of cast and cold chiseled bronze with touches of gilt. This okimono is unsigned. It was probably cast in the late Edo period of Japan (early 19th century).

The bronze and gilding have taken on a warm softness with age. The rabbit is five inches high by four and a half inches long and three inches wide.

Cal Lane

Steel Lace by Cal Lane

New York-based artist Cal Lane turns highly industrial materials like shovels, car parts and oil tanks into delicate lace-patterned works of art. Using a blowtorch, Lane adds a touch of beautiful filigree to the steel objects, producing works that simultaneously hide and expose the gritty material she chooses to work with.

“I like to work as a visual devil’s advocate, using contradiction as a vehicle for finding my way to an empathetic image, an image of opposition that creates a balance – as well as a clash – by comparing and contrasting ideas and materials” , says Lane, who is originally from Victoria, British Columbia.

The Elm’s Fountain

The Marble and Bronze Fountain at The Elms, Newport, Rhode Island

Located at 367 Bellevue Avenue, The Elms was completed in 1901 for the coal baron Edward Julius Berwind. The steel-framed, brick-partitioned $1.5m estate with a limestone facade was built to the design of Horace Trumbauer, whose design was based on the Château d’Asnières in Asnieres, France.

The property is a National Historic Landmark with one of the great classical revival gardens in America, containing almost 40 species of trees.  It is also one of a few remaining examples in America of an estate with a Classical French Revival style carriage house set in a period garden accented by elaborate Italian bronze and marble fountains.

The Nebra Sky Disc

The Nebra Sky Disc

The Nebra Sky Disc is a bronze disk of around 30 centimetres (12 in) diameter and a weight of 2.2 kilograms (4.9 lb), with a blue-green patina and inlaid with gold symbols. These are interpreted generally as a sun or full moon, a lunar crescent, and stars (including a cluster interpreted as the Pleiades. Two golden arcs along the sides, marking the angle between the solstices, were added later. A final addition was another arc at the bottom surrounded with multiple strokes (of uncertain meaning, variously interpreted as a Solar Barge with numerous oars, as the Milky Way, or as a rainbow).

The disk is attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, in Germany, and associatively dated to about 1600 BC. It has been associated with the Bronze Age Unetice culture.

The Nebra sky disk features the oldest concrete depiction of the cosmos worldwide. In June 2013 it was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Registry and termed “one of the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century.”

Reblogged with thanks to http://museum-of-artifacts.blogspot.com

Wakizashi, Nobukuni School

Wakizashi, Unsigned, Mumei (Nobukuni School), End of Namboku Period, 1380 AD, Second Generation of the Nobukuni School in Kyoto

Nobukuni was likely a son or grandson of Ryokai Hisanobu of the Rai school based in Kyoto. He later studied under Sadamune of Kamakura in Soshu province (present-day Sagami, Kanagawa prefecture).

This is a remarkable sword that was made over 600 years ago in Kyoto by the revered Nobukuni school of Yamashiro province (present-day southern Kyoto prefecture). The name originally inscribed on this sword disappeared in the process of shortening what was once a wider and longer naginata. The sword is in near pristine condition despite being centuries old.

The Sanskrit character engravings on both sides of this sword are simply magnificent. One one side of the sword it reads “Fudomyoo” (The Fire God worshiped by the Samurai) who changed himself into a sword. The symbolic engraving features a dragon trying to swallow the sword. The other side features the bonji character and (blood) grooves that served to lighten the sword and provide decoration. This bonji character was used by Buddhist monks as offerings to the gods.

Many scholars agree that Nobukuni produced some of the finest engravings the Japanese Samurai sword world has ever seen. One very important detail to note is that this sword was tested by Yamano Kaemon who was the leader in his Yamano school – a school that was responsible for testing of swords for sharpness and smooth cutting ability. To test this sword, he cleanly cut through one arm and through the torso of a dead human being (near the waistline).

Gold letters on the tang of this sword acknowledge that a highly respected person inspected and certified this sword. The test would have occurred in the Edo period (1700s-1800s). There were 3 main schools for testing in Edo Period at the time, namely Nakagawa, Yamano, and Yamada.

This sword is a shortened naginata. A remarkably similar looking Nobukuni Wakizashi sword from the same era (likely the same swordsmith) can be found in the Kyoto National Museum.

Johann Schilling

Johann Schilling, “Monument to Maximilian of Austria”. Detail of the Personification of One of the Four Continents, Bronze, 1875, Piazza Venezia Trieste, Italy

The monument by Johann Schilling was inaugurated April 3, 1875 at the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph. The bronze monument to 8 meters high, consists of the statue of Maximilian in uniform admiral resting on a high drum decorated with reliefs depicting the Austrian flags.

An octagonal base reproduces the personifications of the four continents, alternating with small medallions with the symbols of science, poetry, the arts and industry, and several inscriptions.

Reblogged from and with thanks to http://hadrian6.tumblr.com

Georges Van De Voorde

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Georges Van De Voorde, “Hercules and the Eagle”, Bronze with Marble Plinth, 1930′s, Height 60.1 cm

Born at the West Flanders city of Kortrijk in April of 1878, Georges Van de Voorde was a Belgian sculptor who specialized in nude figures, portraits, ornamental clock bases, decorative objects, and allegorical sculptures. He studied sculpture in the workshop of Belgian sculptor Constant Devreese and worked for a period in France. Van de Voorde’s work was included in the sculptural art exhibition at the 1936 XL Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. He died in Anderlecht, Belgium in June of 1964 at the age of eighty-six. Van de Voorde’s work is housed in numerous private collections.

The sculpture is a depiction of Hercules (Heracles) slaying the Eagle to free Prometheus, giver of fire to man. Hesiod’s “Theogony” and Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Unbound” both tell that Heracles shot and killed the eagle that tortured Prometheus. This was Prometheus’ punishment by Zeus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals. Hercules freed the Titan from his chains and his torments. Prometheus then made predictions regarding the further deeds of Hercules.