Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Cupped tsuba in the form of a clam shell

Glossary (2)

lacquer, tsuba

  • lacquer

    Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.

  • 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)

    Deeply cupped; in the form of a clam-shell (one valve) as decorated for the game kai-awase (matching of poems written on shells), i.e. the hollow interior (the back) is painted in black laquer on a gilt ground with the design known as Asadzuma-fune (a Court noble and lady in a boat) and a poem relating to this subject; one of the ryōhitsu kidney-shaped and plugged with lead, the other fan-mount-shaped.

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