A LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF AN OLD MAN AND A BOY.

A LARGE BRONZE FIGURE OF AN OLD MAN AND A BOY.

Japan, Meiji period, height 53 cm.

Tokyo school. Signature in hiragana at back of plinth: Kaniya Kuniharu saku, ichi go (no. 1).

Kaniya Kuniharu (1869-?) was an awarded bronze artist of the Meiji period, pupil of two important artists, Takamura Kôun (1852-1934) and Otake Norikuni (born 1852). He exhibited at national and international exhibitions, amongst others at the Paris Exposition in 1900. He was a founder member of the Tokyo chûkin kai (Tokyo Cast Metal Association).
Compare with other works of Kuniharu, e.g. in the Khalili Collection, illustrated by Joe Earle, Splendors of Imperial Japan, Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection, cat. nos. 263 and 264, p. 370 and 372.