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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

Mokkō-shaped tsuba with cruciform shape and key patternfront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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Mokkō-shaped tsuba with cruciform shape and key pattern

  • Literature notes

    Mokkō; thick border with narrow plain edging on each face running round the heart-shaped piercing at each angle; within this on each lobe the border is concave, with stone-grain surface, finishing inwardly in a narrow band of key-pattern; the thin field has been cut away (originally?) leaving a cruciform reserve to support the seppadai; on the front the four arms are each filled by a seal-character (unread), on the back by the remaining portions of two dragons with clouds and sacred pearl, all being in flat sharply cut relief.

    Hirado Work (strictly belongs to group XXIX).

    Hawkshaw Collection, no.525.

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    18th century (1701 - 1800)
    Material and technique
    bronze, with cut and filed openwork decoration, and punched ishime surface; tang-hole plugged with soft metal, probably copper
    Dimensions
    8.5 x 8 x 0.7 cm (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    processed material › metal › alloy › copper alloy › bronze,
    processed material › metal › copper
    Technique index
    forged,
    decorated › openwork,
    cut,
    marked › punched,
    decorated › punched,
    more
    Object type index
    arms/armour › koshirae › kodogu › tsuba
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10187

  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 187

Glossary

tsuba

  • tsuba

    Japanese sword guard.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

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; thick border with narrow plain edging on each face running round the heart-shaped piercing at each angle; within this on each lobe the border is concave, with stone-grain surface, finishing inwardly in a narrow band of key-pattern; the thin field has been cut away (originally?) leaving a cruciform reserve to support the seppadai; on the front the four arms are each filled by a seal-character (unread), on the back by the remaining portions of two dragons with clouds and sacred pearl, all being in flat sharply cut relief.

    Hirado Work (strictly belongs to group XXIX).

    Hawkshaw Collection, no.525.
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