This figure of a phoenix is a rare example of an okimono in silver. Okimono are small, free standing decorative objects created for display in home altars (butsudan) or_ alcoves (_tokonoma) of Japanese style homes. In the Meiji period many were made for export to the West.

Drawn from

"Phoenix" in Dragon King and the Sea, Oliver Impey and Malcom Fairley (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1991), 36-37.