//Objects
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    Bronze tsuba decorated with lobster and sea shells. Late Edo period.

    Bronze tsuba of mokkō form with narrow slightly raised rim carved in kebori with the sea weed and inlaid with a lobster (ebi) made of copper on the face and two sea shells made of shakudo on the back. Lobster's antennae inlaid in gold, and eyes inlaid in shakudo. Ishime-ji treated surface.

    Unsigned.

    Late Edo period (mid-19th century). Dimensions: 76.3 x 71.1 x 3.7 mm
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  • Bushū-Itō school tsuba by Masamitsu, ca. 1800.

    $980.00

    An iron tsuba of oval form decorated with a water plantain (omodaka) carved in low relief and water drops inlaid in gold.

    Signed: Bushū jū Masamitsu.

    Bushū-Itō school.

    Height: 71.8; Width: 67.3; Thickness: 3.6; Weight: 96 g.

    Mid to late Edo period; 18th-19th century.

    There were several tsuba artists with the name of Masamitsu. The one who worked with iron and spelled [正光] is mentioned at Markus Sesko's 'Genealogies' on page 106 in Akasaka School of Edo section as Masamitsu Gorōbei , student of Tadatoki, 4th generation Akasaka master. The name is not mentioned at Torigoye/Haynes 'Tsuba. An Aesthetic Study' in the list of Bushū-Itō family masters on page 181.
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  • Chinese sancai-glazed horse with saddle, Tang dynasty [唐朝] (618 – 907).

    Moulded and sculpted earthenware horse with dark-blue, cream-dappled body, green and cream saddle pad, amber and cream saddle, and amber harness details. H: 28 cm.
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  • Chinese sancai-glazed pottery bowl, Liao Dynasty [辽朝] (907 – 1125).

    Footed bowl with deep, rounded sides decorated with cream and green splashes on amber background, inside and outside. Diameter: 13 cm; H: 7 cm.
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  • Chinese sancai-glazed pottery bowl, Liao Dynasty [辽朝] (907 – 1125).

    Footed conical bowl decorated with cream and brown splashes on green background inside, and cream and green splashes on the brown background outside. Diameter: 13.5 cm, H: 6.2 cm;
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  • Chinese sancai-glazed pottery bowl, Liao Dynasty [辽朝] (907 – 1125).

    Footed conical bowl decorated with green and amber bleeding concentric circles on cream background inside and outside. Diameter: 13.5 cm, H: 6.2 cm;
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  • Chinese small sancai-glazed pottery cup, Tang dynasty [唐朝] (618 – 907).

    Small stoneware cup with rounded sides raising from a short foot to an inverted rim; glazed inside with a green and brown six-petal design on a blue background with creem dots. Amber glaze outside, blue bottom, foot unglazed. Dia: 10 cm; H: 4 cm.
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  • Chinese small sancai-glazed pottery cup, Tang dynasty [唐朝] (618 – 907).

    Small stoneware cup with rounded sides raising from a short foot to an inverted rim; glazed inside with a cream and brown six-petal design on a green background with cream and brown stylized flowers. Amber glaze outside, blue bottom, foot unglazed. Dia: 10 cm; H: 4 cm.
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  • Chōshū school tsuba with ivy motif, 19th century.

    $980.00

    An iron tsuba of slightly vertically elongated circular form carved and pierced with a mass of ivy (tsuta) leaves and tendrils, details damascened with gold in nunome-zōgan technique. Hitsu-ana with raised rim.

    Unsigned.

    Chōshū school.

    Height: 72.0 mm; width: 69.0 mm; thickness: 4.7 mm; Weight: 92 g.

    According to John W. Dower, "ivy bears fairly close resemblance to both maple leaf and grape leaf". However, I consider this tsuba decorated with ivy leaves for several reasons, such as the lack of racemations in the presence of tendrils.
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  • Cizhou ware tiger-form pillow. China, Jin dynasty [金朝] (1115 – 1234).

    The pillow is moulded as a recumbent tiger, the details painted in dark brown and pale russet on a white slip and under a clear glaze, and the slightly dished top is painted with a winged beast. China, the Jin dynasty [金朝] (1115 – 1234). Dimensions: 12 x 34.5 x 19.5 cm
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  • Coin purse with a miniature painting of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie de Montijo / France, 1852-71.

    Coin purse, or porte-monnaie, made of patinated copper alloy, full-grain brown leather outside and purple inside, with a clutch and a hinge, and an oval miniature bust portrait on each side, painted in colour with gold and silver, by an anonymous artist after Franz Xaver Winterhalter, inscribed NAPOLÉON III and L'IMPCE DES FRANÇAIS, respectively, under glass. Dimensions: 97 x 67 x 18 mm. Contributors: Napoleon III [Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte] (French, 1808 – 1873) – character/sitter. Eugénie de Montijo [María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick] (Spanish-French, 1826 – 1920) – character/sitter. Franz Xaver Winterhalter (German, 1805 – 1873) – artist.
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  • Copper fuchi-kashira with Kanzan and Jittoku motif, by Josui. Edo period.

    Fuchi-kashira of copper, carved and inlaid with gold and shakudō, with the design of Kanzan (on kashira), Chinese: Hanshan, an eccentric poet of the Tang dynasty with a scroll (618-906) who befriended Jittoku (on fuchi, Chinese: Shide, a kitchen helper at a mountain temple, holding a broom). Fuchi is signed Josui (如⽔). Fuchi (Jittoku, holding a broom): 38 x 22 x 12 mm. Weight: 23g (Nakago hole: 27 x 8.5 mm); Kashira (Kanzan, reading a scroll): 34 x 17 x 9 mm. Weight: 10g. Materials: Copper, gold, shakudō. Techniques: Tsuchi-me-ji (hammer-marked surface); usu-shishiai-bori or usuniku-bori (low-relief carving which leaves the image somewhat higher than the surface - high relief effect); zōgan (inlay). Josui was a daughter of Jochiku Kamo (Markus Sesko, Genealogies).
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  • Copper katakiribori kozuka with Daruma, by Yasuchika. Edo period

    Kozuka made of pure copper with Daruma motif. The engraving technique is known as katakibori ("half-cut carving"). Signed on the back: Yasuchika. Size: 96.5 (H) x 14.5 mm (W). Edo period (Late 18th century). The technique of Katakiribori was developed by  Yokoya school of artisans. Detailed account of Yasuchika family of kodōgo carvers is given at Japanese Sword Fittings from the Alexander G. Mosle Collection; Sebastian Izzard LLC, 2004 on page 64. The article ends with the following statement: "Given the popularity of his style and his many students, it is not surprising that a number of works bearing Yasuchika's signature are today disputed." S. Izzard attributes Yasuchika masters to Nara school. Yasuchika-signed kozuka in Important Japanese Swords and Sword Furniture and Works of Art [November 5, 1980, sales "Kotetsu". New York, Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc., 1980, pp.92-93, lot 172 and 173] are stylistically very different to our example. A shibuichi katakiribori kozuka, bearing the signature of Yashuchika, is illustrated at The Hartman Collection of Japanese Metalwork [sold at auction by Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd. June 30 and July 1, London, 1976] on page 82, lot 291. It depicts Daikoku and stylistically similar to ours. The description on page 83 says: "signed Yasuchika, and inscribed "drawn by Hanabusa Itcho" (Yasuchika IV, school of Iawamoto konkan, circa 1800)". A detailed account of Yasuchika signatures is presented at Masterpiece tsuba and kodogu from the Hans Conried and Alexander G. Mosle collections. Important woodblock prints by Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige, Yoshida and other masters. San Francisco, September 1-25, 1983. Catalog #7. Robert E. Haynes, Ltd., pp. 141-174. The example that looks like ours is on page 146: Though we have to admit that the example from Catalog #7 by Robert E. Haynes looks much stronger.    
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  • Copper menuki in the form of a shrimp. Edo period.

    A pair of copper menuki in the form of a shrimp (lobster, crawfish, ebi) with eyes inlaid in shakudō.

    Length: 58.2 mm.

       
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  • Copper tsuba with a cormorant fisherman motif by Ichinomiya Nagatsune, circa 1750.

    Copper (suaka) tsuba of oval form carved in relief, pierced and inlaid with soft metals (gold, shakudō, shibuichi or silver) with a cormorant fisherman (ushō) and moon motif on the face and a boat among the bank reeds on the reverse. Signed: Nagatsune. Box inscription: Tsuba with cormorant fishing, made by Nagatsune. Dimensions: 62.7 mm x 53.2 mm x 4.2 mm (at seppa-dai) Edo period: 18th century. Nagatsune (1721-1787), 1st generation master of Inchinomiya School in Kyoto, adopted son of the gilder Nagayoshi, student of Yasui Takanaga [M. Sesko 'Genealogies', p. 26]. Detailed account of the school is given at The Japanese toso-kinko Schools.// Lulu Inc., 2012 by Markus Sesko, pp. 104-108. Nagatsune's biographical sketch can be found there on pp. 104-106. "What Sōminis in the East (Edo), Nagatsune is in the West (Kyōto)." “Since Nara period, Japanese fishermen in small boats have used cormorants (u) to catch river fish at night, binding the necks of the birds so that the fish are not swallowed. […] The bird and the work it performs are symbols of selfless devotion to one’s master and keen eyesight.” – from Merrily Baird 'Symbols of Japan. Thematic motifs in art and design.' //Rizzoli international publications, Inc., 2001; p. 104. See also in this collection: TSU-241 and TSU-0096

    The design was popular among the tsuba makers. We find one in the Alexander G. Moslé collection [Japanese Sword Fittings from the Alexander G. Moslé Collection; Sebastian Izzard LLC, 2004, page 90, №123] signed Nagatsune with kaō: Tsuba with cormorant fisherman, moon, and boat. Squared-oval shibuichi plate, slightly raised rim, engraved, pierced, and inlaid with soft metals in relief. 6.7 x 5.8 cm.

     

    Alexander G. Moslé collection  №123.

    Another reference: Lundgren Collection, 1990, page 86 №207:  Sword guard with design of ushō (person who fishes with cormorants). Signed by Nagatsune. Ichinomiya school. 6.45 x 5.95 x 0.40 cm. Polished shibuichi taka-bori relief, gold and silver inlay. Edo period, 18th century.

    Lundgren Collection №207:

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  • Copper tsuba with a mythical creature motif. Edo period.

    $1,780.00

    Copper tsuba of slightly elongated round form carved in low relief (usuniku-bori, katakiri bori) with the design of a mythical creature: a horse, however, with divided hoofs, with anthropomorphic (human-like) face though with a vertically positioned third eye on the forehead, and a corn. Certain elements of the image accentuated with gold iroe. On the back: flowers and grasses carved in katakiribori technique. Shakudō fukurin.

    Edo period.

    Dimensions: 70.7 x 70.2 x 3.7 mm In a custom wooden box.
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  • Copper tsuba with Daruma motif. Edo period.

    $1,550.00

    A copper tsuba with ishime-ji ground carved and polished (migaki-ji) with sitting Daruma; his eyes are inlaid with shakudo and he has a golden earring. The reverse carved with four characters: 廓 然 無 性 (Kakunen-mushō). It is a Zen proverb that goes back to Bodhidharma (Daruma), meaning "boundless expanse and nothing that can be called holy." [Markus Sesko translation]. Shakudo fukurin.

    Unsigned.

    Edo period (circa 1800). Dimensions: 68.2 x 65.5 x 4.8 (center) x 3.2 (rim) mm
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  • Egyptian faience funerary scarab, 5th – 4th century BC.

    Egypt, Late Period. The oval amulet with multiple pierced holes for stitching to the outer garments of a mummy or the mummy wrappings, reeded wings and braided claws, marine blue in colour. According to the Brooklyn Museum, such faience amulets formed part of the beadwork pattern and served to protect the mummy through their magical properties. It served as a substitute heart that would ensure continued existence in the hereafter. A similar example at the Brooklyn Museum dated ca. 712-342 BC. Dimensions: 55 x 37 mm Provenance: The Collection of Erwin Harvith (1918 – 2011) and Sylvia Redblatt Harvith (1920 – 2015), Detroit, MI, acquired in 1972 directly from the Collection of Moshe Dayan, (משה דיין‎; 1915 – 1981), an Israeli military leader and politician. Exhibited: Jewish Museum, New York, NY, "Culture and Continuity – The Jewish Journey", 1975.
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