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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

  • Literature notes

    Seven butterflies modelled in openwork within the narrow border; gold eyes and gold ring-spots on the wings; edge covered with eight different diapers (lozenge, swastika fret, shippō, etc.) in fine gold wire nunome.

    The real name of this artist, whose work is by no means rare (compare the next six [EAX.10731, EAX.10736, EAX.10737, EAX.10738, EAX.10739, EAX.10740]), was, according to Wada (p.123), the more plebeian one of Nakamura Shinsuke [Japanese text]. His adopted surname Gotō is written with the same characters as that of the famous family of sword-mount makers (Groups XXXIII, XXXIV).
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1800
    Material and technique
    iron, with cut and filed openwork decoration, with gold, and with gold wire nunome-zōgan decoration
    Dimensions
    8.2 x 7.9 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    cut,
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10730
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 730

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

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)

    Seven butterflies modelled in openwork within the narrow border; gold eyes and gold ring-spots on the wings; edge covered with eight different diapers (lozenge, swastika fret, shippō, etc.) in fine gold wire nunome.

    The real name of this artist, whose work is by no means rare (compare the next six [EAX.10731, EAX.10736, EAX.10737, EAX.10738, EAX.10739, EAX.10740]), was, according to Wada (p.123), the more plebeian one of Nakamura Shinsuke [Japanese text]. His adopted surname Gotō is written with the same characters as that of the famous family of sword-mount makers (Groups XXXIII, XXXIV).
  • The A.H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba) by Albert James Koop

    The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)

    Seven butterflies modelled in openwork within the narrow border; gold eyes and gold ring-spots on the wings; edge covered with eight different diapers (lozenge, swastika fret, shippō, etc.) in fine gold wire nunome.

    The real name of this artist, whose work is by no means rare (compare the next six [EAX.10731, EAX.10736, EAX.10737, EAX.10738, EAX.10739, EAX.10740]), was, according to Wada (p.123), the more plebeian one of Nakamura Shinsuke [Japanese text]. His adopted surname Gotō is written with the same characters as that of the famous family of sword-mount makers (Groups XXXIII, XXXIV).
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