Okimono or sculpture in the form of a square, ripe persimmon. Of hammered red bronze inlaid in shakudo and gold; the lid of hammered and carved yellow gold with matte kinkeshi gilding on the leaves, themselves inlaid in pink gold; and the stem of hammered and carved shibuichi. Signed on the reverse with a chiseled signature by the artist: Haruhiko (Otani Haruhiko, the go or art name of Otani Kenzo, 1906 – 1981). Showa 46 or 1971.

With the tomobako or original box, inscribed on the exterior of the lid with a homonym for kaki or persimmon that employs the characters for auspicious nobility; and on the reverse of the lid dated: Showa Hinoto-i (1971), Shinshu or Showa (era) Year of the Boar, Early Autumn, and signed: Otani Haruhiko, and sealed: Otani Haruhiko.

In 1921, Otani Haruhiko apprenticed under the Tokyo master of metal carving and inlays, Katusura Mitsuharu. Then in 1926 he entered the metal hammering department of the Tokyo Fine Arts School as a special student, graduating in 1930. He first participated in the national exhibitions with the Hoshukuten exhibition in 1940, held to commemorate the 2600th Year in the Imperial Calendar. He continued to exhibit at the Shin-Bunten exhibitions, winning the Tokusen or Gold Prize for his 1943 entry. After the Pacific War, Otani exhibited at the Nitten and from 1965 at the Nihon Dento Kogeiten (Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition).

The 1943 Tokusen prize winning vase (inlaid with a scene of a sandy beach scattered with shells) was purchased by the government and entered the collections of the University Art Museum at the Tokyo School of Fine Art. That piece is illustrated in Selected Masterpieces from The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, pages 196 – 197, number 82.

This masterpiece amazes one the more closely one looks. Rich background coloration lends the persimmon a glowing, lambent surface, setting off the soft hammering and the scattering of fine gold and bold shakudo inlays. These abstract inlays dot the surface with a modernist sensibility: we see these gold speckles and black dots as the blemishes on the ripe fruit and the shadow thrown by the curving form. The persimmon leaves Otani carved from yellow gold, which he softened with a kinkeshi matte gilt finish (slight abrading on the undersides of the lid reveals the brighter gold beneath and explains the extraordinary density of the material, which weights the hand beautifully). Delicate inlays of pink gold detail the mushikui insect eaten edges of the curling leaves. Overall curls a carved shibuichi or silver bronze stem.

Characterized by a stylized, modernist realism, this persimmon lavishly employs traditional metalworking techniques and precious materials. A beautiful fresh fruit hanging from an ancient stem, it links the present with the past, the turning of autumn and its sense of time with the timeless.