In the late 19th century, the Tokugawa shogunate handed over control of Japan to the emperor, and Japan rapidly modernized and abolished the samurai class. As a result, craftsmen who made Japanese swords, armor and furnishings lost customers, but with the support of the new government, they began to make extremely elaborate metal and wood sculptures, which they then exported to the United States and Europe. During the Meiji and Taishō eras, Japanese sculpture progressed from the production of devotional objects, to decorative objects, and eventually to fine art. International exhibitions brought Japanese cast bronze to a new foreign audience, attracting strong praise. The past history of samurai weaponry equipped Japanese metalworkers to create metallic finishes in a wide range of colours. By combining and finishing copper, silver and gold in different proportions, they created specialised alloys including shakudō and shibuichi. With this variety of alloys and finishes, an artist could give the impression of full-colour decoration.