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Takaoka Bronze Kannon Statue by Takamura Koun Studio

category: Japanese Antiques

$2500   item #1151591

Takamura Koun (1852-1934) is known throughout the Japanese Art world for creating two noted statues. One is the statue of Saigo Takamori which stands in Ueno Park in Tokyo. The second is wood sculpture of a monkey which is housed in the Tokyo National Museum collection. Koun was originally trained as a sculptor of Buddhist statues. However during the 1872 law which temporarily banned the practice Buddhism, Koun lost his job as an artist and began work in carving ivory sculptures for the foreign market. Koun became famous through his works he submitted to the Chicago World's Fair and the Paris Expo in the 1900s. Koun was influential in modern Japanese sculpture through his disciples.

The work was produced during the 1960-1980 period when Takamura Koun's images became popular with the new middle class in Japan. Various art magazines such as Taiyo published advertisements of handmade reproductions of Takamura Koun's work. One popular series was a collection of Kwan yin or Kannon images and this image was part of this series. Interestingly, this image was not as often recreated as much as the other images and is rare.

Bronze image contains the seal of Takamura Koun and is faithfully reproduced. Statue comes with a protective cloth and pauwlonia box with the inscription, Jibo Kannon or Kannon, the Compassionate Mother. Behind the lid of the box states that the original was created by Takamura Koun. The seal used to stamp the box was approved by the Takamura Family for the reproduction of the images.

Size: Height: 14.5" Width: 5" Length: 6.5"