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Girl reading, bronze okimono, Japan

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    Posted 11 months ago

    kwqd
    (1175 items)

    This bronze okimono is about 3.25" long x 1.5" widest width x 1.5" high. It is marked on the bottom and came with an inscribed tomobako and turmeric cloth. It also has a printed label on the side of the tomobako. Google Translate could make nothing out of the inscription on the tomobako or the signature (scene?). The printed label on the side says "Reading". The printed label makes me think this figurine may have been produced in some quantity.

    Perhaps " girl learning to read" would be a better description, since this girl appears to be very young. I think this is a young girl based on the hairdo. The book is possibly a learning book. I have not been able to find any images of similarly dressed children. I think there may be a story there.

    No idea of age or who made it. There was a layer of dark, black grime on the book under the chin of the girl, visible in the first image. I later washed this piece in my kitchen sink with soapy dish water, but still had to use cotton swabs to get that grime off. That and a bit of light hand rubbing left the patina intact and removed any dust and/or dirt. I revised my guesstimate of age a few decades further back due to the accumulation of grime under the girl's chin.

    This piece came from an estate sale which included a dozen or so very high quality okimono and a few other nice Japanese pieces. Probably part of a collection. This is the only piece that was in a tomobako and one of only two okimono that were signed.

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    Comments

    1. Newfld Newfld, 11 months ago
      Charming figure, such a cute pose
    2. jscott0363 jscott0363, 11 months ago
      Spectacular bronze sculpture!!! I love Japanese pieces and this one is so nicely detailed.
    3. kwqd kwqd, 11 months ago
      Thanks, Jenni! She is a little toothache!

      Thanks, jscott0363! I got a really good deal on it, too!

      Thanks for loving my okimono, jscott0363, vcal, kev123, dav2no1, Drake47, Jenni, DejaVu2 and Vynil33rpm!
    4. kwqd kwqd, 11 months ago
      Thanks for checking out my okimono, Cisum, Reise, Watchsearcher, fortapache, sherrilou and Leelani!
    5. kwqd kwqd, 11 months ago
      Thanks, mikelv85!
    6. kwqd kwqd, 10 months ago
      Thank you, PhilDMorris!
    7. Faith.k Faith.k, 10 months ago
      Gorgeous patina! Looks old to me, but I am not very knowledgeable on that yet!
    8. kwqd kwqd, 10 months ago
      Thanks for your comments, Faith.k! The bottom of the tomobako is split in the middle the entire length, which could indicate that the box is old.

      Thanks for the loves, Faith.k and kivatinitz!
    9. kwqd kwqd, 10 months ago
      @Faith.k - I finally realized that the supposed crack was not on the bottom as the label is on the side of the box and the "crack" is just the gap between the lid and bottom of the box. Luckily, I am a senior citizen and in just a few minutes I will have completely forgotten about my mistake.
    10. kwqd kwqd, 10 months ago
      Thanks, Kevin!

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