Antique Japanese Military 1931 Shanghai Incident Imperially Bestowed Bottle
This is a very interesting piece, decorated with a battle scene of two boats going ashore in an amphibious landing. The words on top of the picture is "Imperially Bestowed" and under the scene "Shanghai Dispatch Commemoration" "11st Division Commander Koto". This Koto is Koto Tokutaro, who was appointed commander of the 11th Division right before the battle of Shanghai. The 11th Division performed the crucial landing behind Chinese lines that threatened the Chinese army in an encirclement after they established their beachhead, which forced the Chinese to withdraw and ending the battle. This scene on the bottle (or probably a vase) commemorates this particular event. I've sold one of these before. At the time I thought this was probably a gift from the emperor. Now I think what's happening is that this was presented by the divisional commander to probably officers of the division - with money given for the purpose by the emperor to make these vases, which is why it has the phrase "Imperially Bestowed". There's a helmet and a shell on the back as well. It's made of bronze.
Condition: Excellent - there's some oxidation on the surface
Size: 5.5" tall x 3" at the widest