A Pair of bronze vases by Oshima Joun, Meiji Period

A Pair of bronze vases by Oshima Joun, Meiji Period
The stretched bulbous body on a short foot with long tapering neck cast as a tied sheaf of rice with applied emerging growing blackberries branches, signature on base of one.
17¾in. (45 cm.) high
Meiji period late 19th century, signed Oshima Joun 1858-1940

For a similar vase but smaller, see Christies 18 03 2014, Acquired from Joan Mirviss, 1996

A professor at Tokyo School of Art from 1887 until 1932, Oshima Joun was one of the most celebrated bronze-casters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He exhibited at several of the great international expositions of the era, including Paris (1900), St. Louis (1904) and London (1910).