Vase in a swelling cylindrical form inset at the foot and neck, ornamented with a design of a bush warbler on pussy willows amid sasa bamboo branches. Of uchidashi or hammered silver, inlaid in gold, silver, shakudo and three different colors (alloys) of shibuichi, with touches of gilding. Signed on the back with a chiseled signature by the artist: Biko, and with an inlaid gold circular seal form signature: Bi (Takahashi Biko, active early 20th century). On the reverse of the vase are stamped: Jun-gin or Pure Silver, and Hattori Sei or Ordered by Hattori (Hattori Tokeiten Company, the Tokyo commissioning house in Ginza that later became Wako Department Store). With the original, elaborately carved, pierce-work rosewood stand. Taisho era, circa 1912 – 1926.

With the tomobako or original box, of paulownia wood edged in chestnut wood, inscribed on the exterior of the lid: Ginsei Kabin or Silver Vase; and on the reverse of the lid: Soshun no Zu or Image of Early Spring, and signed: Takahashi Biko-shi Saku, Shinbido Kinsei or Made by Master Takahashi Biko, Finely Made by Shinbido (his studio name), and sealed.

A Tokyo artist, Takahashi Biko exhibited a modernist, metal tebako with a flowering tree motif (overlaid and inlaid in silver) at the 11th Teiten in Showa 5 or 1930. That piece is illustrated in the Nittenshi, volume 9, page 503, number 108.

This spectacular example of early 20th century Japanese metalwork speaks to the high level of patronage in the arts during the late Meiji and Taisho eras. Given the costly materials, workmanship and time required to create them, pieces such as this vase commanded sums equivalent to those for fine houses in Kyoto or Tokyo.