Meiji Venus bathing
Meiji Venus bathing
5890 A rare and beautiful Japanese Meiji Period bronze figure of a young bijin bathing - or rather a Meiji depiction of a bathing Venus. This beautiful late 19th/early 20th century Japanese work of art in cast bronze shows the strong links between the western and Japanese artistic traditions in the Meiji Period. This piece which displays the exceptional modelling and casting ability of the Japanese artists at the time is clearly inspired by European Classical Antique and Renaissance depictions of the bathing Venus, and at the same time an example of a Japanese bijin (beauty). The young woman, seated gently on a rock beside a stream with her torso slightly twisted and her legs bent to create a wonderful sense of poise, tenderly washing herself, her face alive with the enjoyment of her situation. This is another extraordinary example of the Meiji artist’s ability to breathe life into cold metal and like most Meiji Tokyo School sculpture, almost certainly a unique piece.
Cast Bronze, signed to the back of the rock.
Meiji Period, circa 1900
40cm high
25.5cm wide
22cm deep
SOLD