A Japanese cast hakudō (white bronze with a high silver content) cylindrical vase with water bug design. The stylized bugs with inlaid shakudo eyes on squiggling lines of water. Signed on the base with a chiseled signature of the artist: Shihō (Watanabe Shihō, born 1896). Watanabe Shihō studied metal casting under Ōshima Joun at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, where he later became a professor. His work is in the collections of the Tokyo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art. With the tomobako or original box, inscribed on the exterior of the lid: Amenbo Mon Hana-ire or Water Bug Motif Flower Vase; and on the reverse signed: Shihō, and sealed: Shihō.
Shōwa era, circa 1950 – 1960
10” high x 2 ½” diameter
