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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

  • Literature notes

    Flatly modelled as the badge mitsu-fuji-domoye, three racemes of wisteria, each of comma shape, with their heads impinging on the seppadai, leaving three tapering perforations.

    The badge was borne by the Shinjō, a daimiō family. The guard, now plain, was perhaps originally decorated with gold nunome. Sir Arthur Church, in his manuscript catalogue, states that when he acquired it, the signature was invisible, as were many of the details, owing to being blocked up with rust.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    1588 - 1631
    Artist/maker
    Umetada Myōju (1558 - 1631) (armourer)
    Umetada School (active 16th century - 19th century) (armourer)
    Material and technique
    iron, with cut and filed openwork decoration; tang-hole plugged with soft metal, probably copper
    Dimensions
    8.2 x 7.9 x 0.4 cm (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Technique index
    cut,
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10192
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 192

Glossary

tsuba

  • 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)

    Flatly modelled as the badge mitsu-fuji-domoye, three racemes of wisteria, each of comma shape, with their heads impinging on the seppadai, leaving three tapering perforations.

    The badge was borne by the Shinjō, a daimiō family. The guard, now plain, was perhaps originally decorated with gold nunome. Sir Arthur Church, in his manuscript catalogue, states that when he acquired it, the signature was invisible, as were many of the details, owing to being blocked up with rust.
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