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A Small Japanese Bronze Teapot - Sky Dragon in Relief browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Metalwork: Pre 1910: item # 869967 Please refer to our stock # COLL 9009 when inquiring.
Ichiban Japanese & Oriental Antiques Post Office Box 395 Marion, CT 06444-0395 203.272.7392 Guest Book $325.00 |
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This is an unusually small Japanese bronze teapot with full rotating handle and a relief casting of two sky dragons encircling the body of the pot. They are surrounded by stylized clouds which leads us to the belief that it is a sky dragon. There are many various descriptions of dragons that come down from the Chinese. One such is Tianlong (Chinese; pinyin: tiānlóng; Wade-Giles: t'ien-lung; literally "heavenly dragon"), a celestial dragon that guards heavenly palaces and pulls divine chariots. Although the sky dragon mythological dragon is Chinese in origin, we are quite certain that these two dragons are three toed dragons – which is a distinctive feature of Japanese dragons. So we must conclude that this small teapot is of Japanese origin. The many details on the piece are quite intricate. The small round lid has an outer band of geometrical designs and the knob for the lid is a double gourd. On the rotating handle there are two dragons facing each other with the heads coming together at the middle of the handle. The clouds and all of the details of the dragons are beautifully executed. The teapot measures 3” from the end of the spout to the back of the body – the main globular body is 2 ¼” diameter at its widest. With the handle in the full upright position, the teapot is 4” high - with the handle lowered, the teapot itself is 2 ½” high. It rests on tripod legs that are in the shape of bent double gourds. The patina is excellent – we date the piece to the Meiji period, circa 1880-1900. |
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