Large sculpture "Elephant". Bronze, casting, patination, engraving, bone. Japan, the Meiji period (1868-1912).

This work is a model of the Japanese author's sculpture of the Meiji period (1868-1912). The sculpture is a figure of an elephant walking, created using a casting technique, followed by patinating the surface on which the texture of the animal's skin is reproduced with a chisel. The tusks are made of natural ivory.

On the right, a stamp is placed on the right, indicating that the author of this composition is Siyabi. He was one of the outstanding masters of the Meiji period. His workshop produced works that were notable for their skilful modeling and patinating using traditional alloys, usually containing copper in various percentages to other components.

The sculptural image of an elephant is made in a realistic manner, the pose of the animal is notable for its expressiveness. The sculptor captured the animal at the initial moment of movement, the sense of the internal dynamics of the image is enhanced by the energetic outline of the bent trunk and the regular rhythm of the folds of the skin.

In the works of Siyobi, the traditions of Western European animalistic art and the naturalistic tendencies of the national miniature plastics were organically joined by the Japanese masters of the Meiji period. At the end of the 19th century, peculiar plastic series came into fashion - natural paintings in which animals were depicted in different situations and states. Such products were in great demand both at home and abroad.

The elephant for Japan is an exotic animal, its realistic images in bronze sculpture appeared in Japan in the last third of the 19th century. Until that time, his images were conditional, because the masters copied samples of Buddhist art of India and China. In the Buddhist pantheon, the elephant was the riding animal of the god of wisdom Fugen. A saddled and decorated elephant, more like a fantastic creature, was considered a sacred protector and propagator of good law, able to resist evil and violence. In Japan, along with this, the elephant is considered the personification of power, wisdom and protection.