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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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 birds, pine, and a full moon

  • Literature notes

    In bold iro-e zōgan incrustation on the front are five chidori flying over the sea (engraved lines); at the back are two twisted pine-stems in engraving and part of the full moon in patchy gold nunome. Signed: Otsuriūken ([Japanese text]) Kiboku ([Japanese text]) with Kekihan (not clear).
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    19th century (1801 - 1900)
    Material and technique
    obverse and reverse: iron, with engraved decoration obverse: with iro-e zōgan (multi-metal inlay) decoration reverse: with gold nunome-zōgan decoration
    Dimensions
    7 x 6.6 x 0.5 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.10972
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 972

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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