Copper tsuba of slightly elongated round form carved in low relief (shishiaibori and sukisagebori) and inlaid in gold, silver and shakudō with the design of dreaming Rosei (Lu Sheng): he is half-sitting by the pillow with his eyes closed, holding his fan, with a scroll by his feet, surrounded by flying butterflies.

Edo period, first half of the 18th century.

Dimensions: 70.8 x 67.1 x 5.0 mm.

Signed on the reverse: Jōi (乗 意) + Kaō.

Sugiura Jōi [杉 浦 乗 意] (1701-1761) was a master of Nara School in Edo; he was a student of Toshinaga [M. Sesko, ‘Genealogies’, p. 32]. “Sugiura Jōi (1701-1761) made many fuchigashira and kozuka, tsuba are rather rare.” [M. Sesko, The Japanese toso-kinko Schools, pp. 148-149].

On Rosei (Lu Sheng) dream’s legend see Legend in Japanese Art by Henri L. Joly (1908 edition) on page 293.