Japanese Spoon - Figural Decoration

[admin]

Nice Japanese spoon, I'd guess it to be Meiji period. The flower interior, bird's beak and maker's mark each have gilt enhancement. Sorry for the poor quality of the images. Can anyone identify the mark?

Thanks, Tom

[dognose]

A post that's worth a bump.

Any thoughts?

Trev.

[rauls]

I couldn't see the first character clearly. The mark looks x形作. The first two chars should be a surname of the Japanese silversmith (or the name of his workshop), and the last char "作" means "make".
But I don't know it's Meiji or later. :)