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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

Publications online: 1264 objects

Tsuba with phoenix formed from leaves and scrollsfront

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Tsuba with phoenix formed from leaves and scrolls

  • Literature notes

    Openwork design intended to represent a "phoenix" (hōō) hoiled about the seppadai; it is, however, made up to a great extent of various large leaves (ichō and peony) and karakusa scrolls; touches of rich gold nunome.

    Compare, for the signature, the next three [EAX.10592, EAX.10593, EAX.10594] and, for the peculiar type of design, no.594 [EAX.10594]. To judge from the MS. catalogue, Sir Arthur Church failed to observe the head and tail-feathers of the hōō.

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    19th century (1801 - 1900)
    Material and technique
    iron, with cut and filed openwork decoration, and gold nunome-zōgan decoration
    Dimensions
    7.6 x 7 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › metal › iron,
    processed material › metal › gold
    Technique index
    forged,
    decorated › openwork,
    cut,
    covered › inlaid
    Object type index
    arms/armour › koshirae › kodogu › tsuba
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10591

  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 591

Glossary (3)

nunome-zōgan, phoenix, 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.

  • phoenix

    Mythical bird known as hōō in Japan. The Islamic tradition appropriated the far-eastern iconography of the phoenix and used it to represent another mythical bird, the simurgh.

  • tsuba

    Japanese sword guard.

Location

    • currently in research collection

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Publications online

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