Black patinated, cast bronze sculpture of a monkey, seated with his arms around his knee.

Unsigned. Stamped in the flat bottom: Yamanaka & Co. Inc., and Made in Japan

Japan, early Showa era, 1920s-1930s.

H 1.75 x D 1.6 in.

Two small casting flaws (last 2 photos) that were repaired at the time of production.

The stamp ‘Made in Japan’ was required for objects exported to the US and other western countries in the 1920s and 1930s. The stamp of Yamanaka & Co. indicates that the piece was made for Yamanaka & Co., to be sold in one of their stores outside of Japan. 

Yamanaka & Co. was founded in the 1910s by Yamanaka Sadajiro, who had come to New York in 1894 and set up a small antique store in Chelsea. In 1917 the Fifth Avenue gallery was opened, followed by branch offices in Boston, Chicago, London, Paris, Shanghai and Beijing.