A silvered-bronze figure of mother and child


By Toyokawa Mitsunaga II (1850-1923), Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th centuryThe woman shown supporting her boisterous young son on her back with one hand and holding her straw hat with the other, the child leaning over and pulling his mother's ear, signed Oju Mitsunaga kore o horu with gold inlaid seal Mitsunaga; with a wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside the lid Nofu senkoku (Engraved [figure of] a peasant woman), signed inside the lid Oju Hakuzanshi Toyokawa Mitsunaga with two seals. 36.2cm (14¼in) high. (2).
|Apprenticed at age 15 into the Yanagawa family of metalworkers, Toyokawa Mitsunaga II also studied under the first Toyokawa Mitsunaga, later becoming his son-in-law. During a long and productive career he completed several commissions for the Imperial Household and mentored many pupils.