Description A FINE BRONZE DISH AND A MIXED METAL INKWELL WITH UNDERWATER DÉCOR, MEIJIJapan, Meiji period (1868-1912)The dish rising from a short circular foot, the well finely inlaid in copper, silver, and gilt iro-e takazogan as well as with katakiri incised details depicting a lotus pond, showing a crab on a lotus leaf, pods rising from the water and two insects. The cylindrical inkwell with hinged lid decorated in mixed metal, copper, and gilt inlays depicting aquatic animals on the lid, such as fish, a lobster, or a crab, the sides with a fly, a turtle, and a frog around a rope, which repeats above the foot, the interior with a glass and metal ink container.Condition: Overall good condition with some surface wear and shallow scratches as well as tiny nicks here and there. The inkwell with malachite encrustations to the interior and a dent to the underside. Provenance: Family collection of either Felix Tikotin (1893-1986) or his son-in-law Louis (Loek) Borensztajn (1935-2021), Netherlands. Felix Tikotin (1893-1986) was an architect, art collector, dealer, and founder of the first Museum of Japanese Art in the Middle East. He became one of the world's leading collectors of Japanese art, starting at the age of 18, and continued to collect and work as an art dealer in Berlin in the 1920s. In the 1930s Felix Tikotin fled from the Nazis and hid his collection in the Netherlands. After the war, he decided that his collection should be taken to Israel, where in 1959 and with the help of Abba Hushi, who was the mayor of Haifa, The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art was established. The Museum's collection comprises more than 8,000 items of art and crafts.Weight: 283 g in totalDimensions: Height of the box 5.5 cm, diameter of the dish 12.3 cm