Tokyo School Bronze, ca. 1890
GUEST:
My mother was an antique dealer, and it was a gift from her.
APPRAISER:
And I understand that you've tried to do a little bit of research on the piece, but you've had a problem.
GUEST:
Very little, yes.
APPRAISER:
Yeah. When you brought the piece to the table, everybody at the table just loved it; we thought it was just so charming and so wonderful. It's a Japanese bronze-cast piece. It's from the Meiji period. And it dates to about 1890 or so.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And it's from a school called the Tokyo School, which is really known for its exceptional detail. And you can really see that in her facial expression and also in the baby's facial expression, as well as the attention to detail of all the clothing. The nice thing about this is that it's a very large example. Usually they're a little bit smaller than this. It's very large, and also, it's in two parts. It's all one sculpture, but the two bronze pieces are cast separately.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, okay.
APPRAISER:
Now the wood stand is also part of the entire sculpture, too.
GUEST:
Okay, that's nice to know.
APPRAISER:
And it's a rather rustic wood stand, not very refined, but if you think about it, this is a peasant woman with her child, and sitting on just a bench, having a moment with her baby. And the other thing during this time period, a lot of the subject matters were very masculine.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And this is very sort of sweet and, you know, sort of a nice, quiet moment.
GUEST:
It is.
APPRAISER:
Now you have a few condition issues on it, not much. Right on the arm here, you'll notice that there's a little crack.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And that was done during casting.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
That's an element that sort of sticks out, and pressure got to it and it, it cracked a little bit,
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
broke a little bit. The other thing is that somebody at some point repaired this screw here in the table. Not a big deal. Just a small, small issue. But overall it's an absolutely charming piece. The value of this piece at auction would be around $25,000.
GUEST:
Ooh! Well, that's very nice to know.
APPRAISER:
Exactly, yeah. It really is a fabulous piece, and it's just-- it's a beautiful example of its type. Thank you so much for bringing it in.
GUEST:
Well, thank you so much. It's been very...
APPRAISER:
It brightens your day, right?
GUEST:
It brightened my day, yes, it did.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
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