Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)

An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.

The A.H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba) by Albert James Koop

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Round tsuba with swastikas

  • Literature notes

    Covered to near the edge with fine brass wire inlay of a closed swastika diaper (different on each face) outwardly bordered by a circle and inwardly by the seppadai outline (which is oblong with re-entrant angles).

    The inlay, although revealing the sunk grooves proper to the true hira-zōgan where the brass has come away, has at the same time a curious nunome look and the ground in several places shows a fine horizontal hatching. This, coupled with the unusual outline of the seppadai, inclines one to class the guard as Hizen work (Group XXXI).
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    17th century (1601 - 1700)
    Material and technique
    iron, with hira-zōgan (flat inlay) in brass wire
    Dimensions
    7.6 x 7.6 x 0.5 cm (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10157
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 157

Glossary

tsuba

  • tsuba

    Japanese sword guard.

Location

    • currently in research collection

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Publications online

  • The A.H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba) by Albert James Koop

    The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)

    Covered to near the edge with fine brass wire inlay of a closed swastika diaper (different on each face) outwardly bordered by a circle and inwardly by the seppadai outline (which is oblong with re-entrant angles).

    The inlay, although revealing the sunk grooves proper to the true hira-zōgan where the brass has come away, has at the same time a curious nunome look and the ground in several places shows a fine horizontal hatching. This, coupled with the unusual outline of the seppadai, inclines one to class the guard as Hizen work (Group XXXI).
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