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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

  • Literature notes

    Octagonal; on the front flat decoration in gold nunome (an ascending an descending dragon with conch-shell); on the back engraved copper inlay with gold edging (dragon and clouds); sd. marked with double-lined long-octagonal frame of gold wire on the front, gold and copper wire on the back; narrow border and edge gilt; lead plug in kōgai-hole. Hizen (Nagasaki work).
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    17th century (1601 - 1700)
    Material and technique
    obverse and reverse: iron; kōgai-hole plugged with lead; tang-hole plugged with soft metal, probably copper obverse: iron, inlaid with gold wire, and with gold nunome-zōgan decoration reverse: inlaid with copper, copper wire, and gold; copper inlay engraved
    Dimensions
    8.1 x 8.1 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10843
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 843

Glossary (2)

nunome-zōgan, tsuba

  • nunome-zōgan

    Decorative application of metal sheeting (generally of gold or silver) where the iron ground is first cross-hatched and the metal burnished on.

  • 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)

    Octagonal; on the front flat decoration in gold nunome (an ascending an descending dragon with conch-shell); on the back engraved copper inlay with gold edging (dragon and clouds); sd. marked with double-lined long-octagonal frame of gold wire on the front, gold and copper wire on the back; narrow border and edge gilt; lead plug in kōgai-hole. Hizen (Nagasaki work).
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