Signed Japanese ? bronze with bird

Recent estate piece. Estate run by relatives and everything was inexpensive. Someone ahead of me picked this up, kind of looked at it quizzically and set it back down. I couldn't pick it up fast enough.

At first thought zero markings which was odd, but once home, found it is signed under the bird's tail!!

Thinking Japanese? Has anyone run across similar?

If I don't respond at some point, we've got high winds here and our power company is shutting the power down periodically.






Any ideas with the signature?

 

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/d...onze-sculpture-tree-bird-c1900/id-f_43026582/

 

Thank you, Marote! I wonder what it actually sold for? That one does not seem to be signed unless they missed it!

I am questioning whether mine is an antique though. Pretty sure it's vintage.

Thanks.

 

The one on 1stdibs seems to have a mark here

 

Wonderful fresh piece Lucille. I agree with You-vintage,seems to have a more contemporary clean Post-War look (but I'm in no way an expert).

 

Ditto. And the sweetest thing.

 

Meiji period bronze? LOVE this piece! I would grabbed it as well!

 

Thanks, guys. Would be great to get a lead on that signature.

I would love for this to be Meiji period. I'm not an expert, it just has a more vintage feel, although construction is quite nice. The bird in particular.

Open to additional thoughts!

 

If it still relevant - it is a bird okimono, extremely common as they were very popular during the Meiji / Taisho / Showa periods, when Japan was flooded with tourists. Since its main market was foreigners / tourists, the majority of works are not of very high-quality and range from a few hundred dollars for a piece, but some go up to thousands for mixed metal masterpieces. It's quite hard to track particular makers of these as back then literally every metalwork workshop had similar in their products list. It's even not uncommon to see an (almost) same product marked by different makers (probably working for the same company).

For examples - just google "japanese bronze bird branch okimono" or similar. A few:
https://www.tomboco.com.au/products/japanes-bronze-okimono-of-birds-c-1950
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/japanese-meiji-bronze-okimono-4955483542
https://www.coronariauctions.com/en...-of-an-eagle-on-a-rock-signed-hidemasa-20th-c
https://steveslyjapaneseart.com/product/japanese-silver-and-shakudo-bird-okimono/

Your particular one marked 玉山 (Gyokuzan). Period: very hard to tell, can be anywhere between late Meiji and early-Showa, even slightly past WWII.

Very similar birds signed by 2 different makers (玉山, Gyokuzan and 清晃, Kiyomitsu):

 

Just noticed your reply, @Opossum . Sorry for the delay in my gratitude and thanks. This is extremely helpful information!! I appreciate you taking a look, and the translation of the signature is so good to know. I still have the piece, actually it is on display, but at one point will likely sell it so it is wonderful to have this information.

Thank you very kindly.