Pair of vases in baluster form, ornamented on the sides with blooming lilies, dianthus, and grasses. Of hammered and cold-chiseled silver, inlaid in two colors of gold, carved and textured silver, shakudo, and shibuichi, and with gilt details. Each signed on the back with a chiseled signature: Masami, and with a chiseled seal-form signature: Masami (Ito Masami, the go or art name of Ito Sutegoro, active late 19th – early 20th century); and on the bases with chiseled marks: Miyamoto Kinsei or Finely Made by Miyamoto, and Jun Gin or Pure Silver, and signed by the hammering artist who made the vase: Juko and with a kao or stylized art monogram (Hirata Juko I, the go or art name of Hirata Jutaro, died 1926). With the original carved rosewood stands. Late Meiji – Taisho era, circa 1900 – 1920.

With the period, fitted wood storage box.

Born in Tokyo the son of Takeda Nobutoshi, Ito Masami was later adopted by Ito Katsumi. Masami was a member of the Tokyo Chukinkai (Tokyo Metal Casting Association) and resided in the Okachimachi area of the Shitaya district of Tokyo. He was active during the Meiji and Taisho eras, and his high-level metal art drew the patronage of the Imperial Household Agency.

Hirata Juko I was the hammering artist who formed the vases. He lived and worked in the Suehiro-cho neighborhood of the Kanda district of Tokyo. Skilled at hammering, Juko I was succeeded on his death on February 12th of 1926 by his eldest son, Juko II.

Miyamoto was a high-level commissioning house in Tokyo, noted for its patronage by the Imperial Household Agency.

For a pair of Imperial presentation vases made by Ito Masami and ordered through Miyamoto, c.f. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art: Meiji No Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan, Metalwork Part II, number 126.

Realized with the realism of Nihonga painting, these vases depict lilies and dianthus with the highest level of workmanship and a lavish use of precious metals. Even the silver bases were hammered from far heavier amounts of silver than was usual. The contrasting high relief and flush inlay, painterly katakiri-bori chiseling, and extraordinary carving of the lily blossoms places these among the finest metalwork made in Imperial Japan.