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Octagonal tsuba with phoenix, kirin, and dragon
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 18th century (1701 - 1800)
- Material and technique
- iron, with punched ishime surface, openwork decoration, and gold nunome-zōgan decoration; kozuka-hole plugged with soft metal, probably shakudō
- Dimensions
- 8 x 7.5 cm (height x width)
- Material index
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processed material › metal › iron,processed material › metal › gold,processed material › metal › alloy › copper alloy › shakudō
- Technique index
- Object type index
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arms/armour › koshirae › kodogu › tsuba
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
- Accession no.
- EAX.10823
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Further reading
Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 823
Glossary (5)
kozuka, nunome-zōgan, phoenix, shakudō, tsuba
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kozuka
The handle that holds the small knife called the kogatana.
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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.
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phoenix
Mythical bird known as hōō in Japan. The Islamic tradition appropriated the far-eastern iconography of the phoenix and used it to represent another mythical bird, the simurgh.
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shakudō
alloy of copper and gold, patinated to a dark blue-black colour
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tsuba
Japanese sword guard.
Location
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- 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
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The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)
Octagonal; modelled in low relief on irregularly grained ground; on the front a flying "phoenix" (hōō) and a "unicorn" (kirin) with a table of offerings, clouds, etc.; at the back, two "smooth" dragons and cloudsl the whole of this relief is richly decorated with tinted gold nunome, and the same technique supplies the almost symmetrical conventional ornaments and scrolls that fill the wide flat border; sd. of lobed outline.
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