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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

  • Literature notes

    Hexagonal; polished surface; on the front inlaid silver wire marks out an inner circle and the spine of a large dragon coiled almost into a ring, the rest of him being in silver nunome, with gold head and tail; at the back similar wires mark out an inner circle and a wavy scrolled stem, which has five peony flowers and numerous leaves in silver nunome; a narrow border is marked on the front by a single silver wire inlaid, at the back by a wave pattern of numerous wires. Signed: Miōchin Nobuiye kore wo tsukuru (compare Group IVa), and dated Tenshō XIII (1586). The decoration is Hizen (Nagasaki) work, probably of the 17th century.

    One of the largest old tsuba known; the holes for the tang and kodzuka are not, however, of abnormal size. The "inlaying" of the silver wires might almost be described as nunome (compare Introduction).
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    forged 1586
    probably decorated 17th century (1601 - 1700)
    Material and technique
    iron, with polished surface (migaki-ji), inlaid with silver wire, and with gold and silver nunome-zōgan decoration
    Dimensions
    14.5 x 12.7 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.10842
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 842

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)

    Hexagonal; polished surface; on the front inlaid silver wire marks out an inner circle and the spine of a large dragon coiled almost into a ring, the rest of him being in silver nunome, with gold head and tail; at the back similar wires mark out an inner circle and a wavy scrolled stem, which has five peony flowers and numerous leaves in silver nunome; a narrow border is marked on the front by a single silver wire inlaid, at the back by a wave pattern of numerous wires. Signed: Miōchin Nobuiye kore wo tsukuru (compare Group IVa), and dated Tenshō XIII (1586). The decoration is Hizen (Nagasaki) work, probably of the 17th century.

    One of the largest old tsuba known; the holes for the tang and kodzuka are not, however, of abnormal size. The "inlaying" of the silver wires might almost be described as nunome (compare Introduction).
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