Japanese Bronze By Ichiga Numata - Reclining Lion

Ichiga (Kazumasa) Numata (沼田一雅, May 5, 1873 – June 5, 1954) was a Japanese sculptor and ceramic artist. His real name was Yujiro Numata.

Born in Fukui, Fukui Prefecture, he studied sculpture under Takeuchi Hisakazu. In 1896, he became an assistant professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. In 1900, his bronze "Sarumawashi Ornament" won first prize at the Paris Exposition Universelle. In 1903, he went to France to study porcelain and ceramic sculpture, first at the Académie Julian in Paris, then at the Manufacture de Porcelaine de Sèvres (now the Musée National de la Céramique) under Sandoz, while simultaneously studying sculpture with Rodin. He returned to Japan in 1906 (Meiji 39) and, in 1909 (Meiji 42), became a professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. In 1928 he became a Knight of the Legion of Honor of the French Republic. From 1933 (Showa 8), he was a member of the jury of the Teiten Exhibition (帝展, exhibition organized by the Imperial Academy of Arts from 1919 to 1934) and then at the Shin-Bunten (新文展, exhibition organized by the Ministry of Culture from 1936 to 1943). He also founded the Japanese Ceramic Sculpture Association and served as its president. In May 1954, he received the Imperial Prize from the Japan Academy of Fine Arts.

At the entrance to the National Museum in Tokyo, one of the two lions that greet you is his.

At the end of 2024, the Cernuschi Museum in Paris acquired the terracotta sketch dated 1906 of the present bronze.