A Japanese bronze and gilt two-handled vase, Meiji period, 1868-1912


the ovoid body finely chiselled with a winged kirin picked out in gilt amongst clouds, the reverse with a ho-ho bird before a flowering tree, the shoulders applied with a pair of masks, their horns forming the handles, the neck with a band of stylized bats, raised on three cockerel-headed scroll supports, on an engraved stepped circular base, with detachable liner, 28,5cm high