Nara school tsuba by Sugiura Jōi with dreaming Rosei motif. Edo period.

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.