Lot 3825. An important iron articulated sculpture of an eagle on stand, Meiji period (circa 1894), signed Shinjiro (Itao Shinjiro; 1842-1911); 19 3/8 in. (49.2 cm.) long without stand. Estimate HKD 5,500,000 - HKD 7,000,000 (USD 704,962 - USD 897,225). Price realised HKD 6,700,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018.

The iron eagle constructed of numerous hammered plates jointed inside the body, the beak opens, the neck, wings, limbs and claws move, the eyes inlaid in stone, the details of feathers finely chiseled, the incised signature on underside. With original wood box, stand and brocade curtain.

Literature: Nihon Bijutsu Gaho (Japanese Fine Arts Magazine) (1894), unpaginated.
Kuo Hong-Sheng and Chang Yuan-Feng, chief eds. et al., Meiji no bi / Splendid Beauty: Illustrious Crafts of the Meiji Period (Taipei: National Taiwan Normal University Research Center for Conservation of Cultural Relics, 2013), pp. 268-275. 

Exhibited: Nihon Bijutsu Kyokai (Japanese Art Association), "The spring exhibition of the Japanese Art Association," 1894.4.1-5.20.
National Palace Museum, “The arts and Cultures of Asia,” 2004. cat. no. 50. 
“Meiji Kogei: Amazing Japanese Art,” shown at the following venues: Tokyo University of the Arts Museum, 2016.9.7-10.30. Hosomi Museum, Kyoto, 2016.11.12-12.25. Kawagoe City Art Museum, 2017.4.22-6.11. cat. no. 7.

Christie's. The Meiji Aesthetic: Selected Masterpieces from a Private Asian Collection, Hong Kong, 27 November 2018