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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Tsuba depicting Raiden, the Thunder God, with bamboo and a rain storm on the reverse

Glossary (6)

lacquer, maki-e, shibuichi, togidashi, togidashi maki-e, 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.

  • maki-e

    (‘sprinkled design’) generic term for lacquer decoration using powdered metals sprinkled onto wet lacquer to create a design

  • shibuichi

    alloy of copper and silver, patinated to a dull grey-green colour

  • togidashi

    Technique in which the design in metal powders sprinkled over damp lacquer, is permitted to harden, then entirely covered with lacquer and finally after hardening, polished with abrasives to re-expose the design.

  • togidashi maki-e

    (‘sprinkled designs revealed by polishing’) a type of makie in which the sprinkled design is covered with lacquer that is then polished away so that the design reappears flush with the surface

  • 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)

    On the front, in imitation of dark shibuichi with faint modelling, gilding and inlay of shakudō and copper, is the partly visible figure of the Thunder God, Raiden, with his thunder-drums amid swirling clouds. The back has togidashi work (compare [EAX.11041]) representing bamboos (black) blown by a rain-storm (gilding), with, in gold lacquer on the field, the name of the painter originating the design, Yempo [Japanese text], followed by his kakihan [Figure]. Edge and rg.-linings of plain shibuichi. The guard itself signed in gold lacquer: Chōfu no jū ("resident of Tottori", capital of Inaba province) Yoshitsura [Japanese text] saku. (Unrecorded.)

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