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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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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Mokkō-shaped tsuba depicting a court noble looking at Mount Fuji

  • Literature notes

    Mokkō; fine ishime ground with slight modelling and iroye incrustation; a Court noble, with a lady seated on the ground holding his sword, stands looking over a lake towards the distant peak of Mount Fuji; at the back, a charcoal-burner's furnace with smoke issuing from it; one specially made tang-hole plug. Style of Shummei Hōgen, a famous artist who died in 1859, aged 73.

    This guard therefore really belongs to Group XLVIII.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    19th century (1801 - 1900)
    Material and technique
    shakudō, with punched ishime surface, and iro-e zōgan (multi-metal inlay) decoration; tang-hole plugged with soft metal, probably copper
    Dimensions
    8.2 x 7.5 x 0.4 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.10987
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 987

Glossary (2)

shakudō, tsuba

  • shakudō

    alloy of copper and gold, patinated to a dark blue-black colour

  • 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)

    Mokkō; fine ishime ground with slight modelling and iroye incrustation; a Court noble, with a lady seated on the ground holding his sword, stands looking over a lake towards the distant peak of Mount Fuji; at the back, a charcoal-burner's furnace with smoke issuing from it; one specially made tang-hole plug. Style of Shummei Hōgen, a famous artist who died in 1859, aged 73.

    This guard therefore really belongs to Group XLVIII.
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