Japan, Meiji/Taish? period, height 27 cm. Signature in seal form: Izumi Seij? ch? and kakihan. Provenance: Swiss private collection, purchased at Barry Davies Oriental Art, London, 1995 (copy of invoice available).Seij? was the go of Izumi Toranoj? (1865-1937), a notable bronze cast artist who lived in Tokyo and worked in Kanda. One of his bronzes exhibited at the Paris exhibition in 1900 won a prize. One of his works, a rooster and a hen, is part of the Imperial collection Sannomaru.