Antique Meiji Period Japanese Export Silver Hinged Panel Bracelet, Cicada Uchidashi Repoussé, Nanako Ground, Barrel Hinges, Hook and Safety Chain, c.1868-1912

Meiji period. A master metalsmith who once made sword fittings, now making cicadas for Western wrists.

When the Meiji Restoration dismantled the samurai class in the 1870s, it left a generation of generational metalworkers without their primary patrons. These were craftsmen who had spent careers executing the intricate decorative fittings for samurai swords: tsuba, menuki, kozuka, worked in precious metals with techniques refined over centuries. They did not stop working. They pivoted, directing the full weight of their skill toward jewellery and decorative objects for the growing Western export market, and the results were extraordinary.

This bracelet is one of those results. The form is a series of hinged rectangular silver panels connected by heavy decorative barrel hinges, the hinge barrels themselves ribbed and precisely made, the whole structure substantial and architecturally considered. Each panel carries a cicada in high-relief uchidashi repoussé: the figures hammered out from the reverse of the silver sheet to produce dramatic three-dimensional forms, the hollows visible on the inner face of the bracelet proving that each insect was worked by hand rather than cast. The background of each panel is worked in nanako, the traditional fish-roe texturing produced by a punch applied thousands of times across the silver ground, a technique that was the signature of master Japanese metalworkers and historically reserved for the finest sword fittings.

The cicada was not a decorative choice made lightly. In Japanese and broader East Asian culture, the cicada represents rebirth and immortality: it lives underground for years before emerging transformed into the light. The Meiji smiths knew exactly what they were putting on the wrist of a Western buyer, and that buyer was getting something that meant considerably more than it appeared to.

The bracelet closes with a period hook and eye clasp with an attached safety chain. Un-hallmarked, consistent with Japanese export silver of this period, and acid-tested to confirm high-purity precious white metal content.

The Particulars:

• Type: Hinged panel bracelet
• Origin: Japanese export silver, Meiji period, c.1868 to 1912
• Technique: Uchidashi repoussé (hand-hammered high relief), nanako fish-roe background texturing
• Motif: Cicada, Japanese symbol of rebirth and immortality
• Construction: Rectangular silver panels with decorative ribbed barrel hinges
• Metal: High-purity precious white metal, un-hallmarked, acid-tested
• Closure: Period hook and eye clasp with attached safety chain
• Interior: Hollow repoussé visible on inner face, confirming hand-worked construction
• Condition: Age patina and oxidation throughout, consistent with period. Please review all photos carefully before purchasing.

The samurai were gone. The smiths remained. This is what they made instead.

Arrives tucked inside its own treasure coffin and carefully wrapped as a vault relic, ready for gifting or keeping.