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Bought for a boy in May, kept in its box for the other eleven months.
Would you like one like this? ↓A warrior in full lamellar armour on a rearing horse, cast in the same Takaoka foundries as the Buddhist figures and finished with gilt on the helmet crest, the armour lacing and the stirrups.
These are gogatsu-ningyo — figures set out for Boys' Day in May, along with the carp streamers. They are displayed for a fortnight and then packed away in a signed wooden box until the next year, which is why so many survive in good condition.
On the shelf now, from other workshops
Not this story's piece: new work from Japan's workshops that can be ordered today.
Kutani Ryusen Vasegold leaf pine crane flower vessel$189
Hakata Ningyo Monkey FigurineQueen Mother of the West peach$179
Oga Peninsula Namahage Wall HangingJapanese Red Oni Mask$109
Seibo Kitamura Fighting Spirit Bronze Bull SculptureYokozuna Ushi Cast Metal$465Pieces like this come and go, and most of what the house finds never goes online.
5.0 · Star Seller on Etsy ↗Pick a budget and who it is for — that is enough. We write back with photographs, condition and a price.
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The horse and rider are modelled as one composition.
Cast in parts — horse, rider, weapon — and joined.
Armour lacing and harness are cut in after casting.
Coloured dark, with gold left where the light should catch.
The horse is where the caster shows off: four legs, a raised body, and a rider, all balanced on two points of contact.
The same note applies as to any Japanese art bronze. A sculptor prepares the model and the foundry casts the series; we record what the box says and nothing more.
In 1609 Maeda Toshinaga built a castle at Takaoka and settled seven casting families in a quarter beside it, the district still called Kanayamachi — the metal-workers' town. (Where exactly the seven came from is given differently in different accounts.) The castle was abandoned within six years. The foundry quarter was not, and it is still there.
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