Crawfish Figure
Medium
Iron
Dimensions
L. 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm)
Classification
Metalwork
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936
Accession Number
36.120.683
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Asian Art collection, the *Crawfish Figure* by Myōchin Munoshi exemplifies the masterful ironworking traditions of Japan's Edo period (16151868). Crafted iron and measuring 13¾ inches in length, this intricate sculpture captures the segmented body and poised claws of a crawfish with remarkable realism. Myōchin Muneyoshi, from the illustrious Myōchin family of metal artisans—renowned for generations as armorers to the samurai—demonstrates their shift toward decorative arts during peacetime. Edo-period metalwork like this piece transitioned from funct...