A fine bronze vase Edo period (1615-1868) or Meiji era (1868-1912), 19th/20th century Of baluster form cast in bronze and extensively chiseled on the surface, the decoration divided into registers separated in the middle by a band raised in relief with roundels containing a rooster, monkey, ram, horse, and other animals, the eyes picked out in gold, all on a ground of diamond-shapes bosses, the upper register decorated with key frets above a lappet collar containing stylized thistles on an ishime ground linked with panels of stylized waves and lobed reserves of butterflies bordering a star-patterned and nanako ground, the lower register carved with interlocking leafy tendrils and stylized blossoms on an ishime ground, the shoulders finished with beast-mask handles supporting rings, signed on the underside Masayoshi chu (cast by Masayoshi) 12 1/8in (30.8cm) high