A bronze vase in dark olive patina cast with a writhing dragon clutching a crystal ball by master of the lost wax casting technique Suga Shoen. It is 28 x 29.3 cm.
Shoen I (1868-1935) was a bronze artist of the Tokyo school, who moved to Takaoka in 1908, bringing with him two sons. Suga Shoen II (1898-1979), birth name Seiichi, along with his younger brother studied under the first Shōen from whom they inherited the techniques of lost-wax casting, and in 1935 Seiichi succeeded to the name of second-generation Shoen, his brother taking the name Mokusen. In 1940 he was first accepted into the 4th Shin-Bunten, and in 1944 received the Special Prize. From 1945 he taught at the Toyama Prefectural Takaoka Technical School of Industrial Arts. He exhibited at the 4th Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition in 1957, and in 1962 became a committee member of the Japan Contemporary Art and Crafts Association, later serving as councilor (1965) and executive advisor (1974). He was designated a Preserver of Toyama Prefecture’s Intangible Cultural Property in 1964, became a member of the Nitten in 1966, and in 1974 was recognized by the Japanese government as a Preserver of an Important Intangible Cultural Property. That same year, he was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Rosette. In 1979, shortly before his death, he also served as executive advisor to the Japan New Crafts Artists Federation. He has been succeeded by his own son, Shoen III (b. 1925) who still works today at the family foundry in Takaoka.
