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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

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Tsuba with dragons amid scrollwork

  • Literature notes

    Two symmetrical ascending dragons amid a little scrollwork; between them, above and below the plain oblong seppadai, are two rosettes with sunk centres (settings for stones?); to right and left are two similar rosettes with palmette extensions above and below them; gold dot eyes; gold nunome on rosettes and palmette borders; kozuka-hole cut later.

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    18th century (1701 - 1800)
    Material and technique
    iron, with openwork decoration, gold, and gold nunome-zōgan decoration
    Dimensions
    7.4 x 6.9 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › metal › iron,
    processed material › metal › gold
    Technique index
    forged,
    decorated › openwork,
    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.10809

  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 809

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)

    Two symmetrical ascending dragons amid a little scrollwork; between them, above and below the plain oblong seppadai, are two rosettes with sunk centres (settings for stones?); to right and left are two similar rosettes with palmette extensions above and below them; gold dot eyes; gold nunome on rosettes and palmette borders; kozuka-hole cut later.
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