1993.86.11.FA Takenouchi no Sukune Meets the Dragon King of the Sea

Japanese art of the Meiji period (1868-1912) was designed for an international art market, as Japan was now open to the Western world.  Fine metalworkers, like the maker of this impressive bronze sculpture, turned from producing armor and objects for the samurai class to creating works suited to new patrons, often European or American.  This sculpture was exhibited in both Japan and London in the late 19th century. It represents a mythic tale popular in 19th-century Japan: a great warrior-statesman, Takenouchi no Sukune, defeats a sea monster, thus helping both humans and sea creatures.  The Dragon King of the Sea gives the hero a precious jewel (here a globe of glass) that grants him power over the sea. 

"Takenouchi no Sukune Meets the Dragon King of the Sea," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Bonnie Pittman (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 93.

apply to objects where number equals 1993.86.11.FA