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Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 歌川 国芳, January 1, 1797 – April 14, 1861. Memorial portrait (Shini-e) of Nakamura Utaemon IV as a priest. Date: 1852. Reference: Heroes and Ghosts, by Robert Schaap, 1998, p. 165 (image 176). Tokyo digital museum 番号 94202582. Provenance: Herbert Egenolf Collection, Germany. Literature: Suzuki (1992) 317. Trimmed, unsigned. -
Iron tsuba of round form with design of the Chinese character for cinnabar (shu-no-ji) in openwork (sukashi). Round-cornered rim. Copper sekigane. Kanayama school. Early Edo period: Early 17th century (Kan-ei era). Height: 70.0 mm. Width: 69.6 mm. Rim thickness: 6.8 mm. Center thickness: 5.8 mm. Provenance: Sasano Masayuki Collection, № 139: "Many areas have a coarse texture and strong tekkotsu, with the thickness of the metal graduating from the rim to the seppa-dai. The combined color of the iron and motif date this work to the early Edo period". -
Kozuka with seven insects (fly, grasshopper, bee, butterfly, dragonfly, firefly, and cricket) and grass with dewdrops motif. Shakudō, flush gold inlay (hira-zōgan). 95.2 (H) x 13.7 mm (W). Mid Edo period (Late 17th - early 18th century, Genroku era 1688-1703). Unsigned. Kaga school. A look-a-like kozuka (with five insects) is illustrated at Japanese Sword Fittings. A descriptive catalogue of the Collection of G.H. Naunton, Esq., completed and illustrated by Henri L. Joly, - 1912 on plate XXIX, №691 [LIB-1389 in this Collection] with the following description at page 54: "Shakudō, inlaid with butterfly, dragon-fly, grasshopper, locust and another insect, gold."
See also tsuba TSU-0211 in this collection:
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Evening Snow on Mount Hira (Hira no bosetsu), from the series Eight Views of Ōmi in Modern Guise (Ryaku Ōmi hakkei, (略近江八景). About 1773–75 (An'ei 2–4). Artist: Isoda Koryūsai (Japanese, 1735–1790) CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ: Hockley 2003, p. 202, #F-21-1 DIMENSIONS: Vertical chûban; 26 x 19.3 cm (10 1/4 x 7 5/8 in.)Signed: Koryû ga [湖竜画] -
Iron tsuba of oval form with a shakudō fukurin and rough surface decorated by low relief carving and brass inlay with a centipede emerging from under the rock on both sides.
Edo period.Size: 78.9 x 73.6 x 3.8 mm
Unsigned. However, this tsuba may be (though with reservation) attributed to Misumi Kōji school. There is some information regarding this master(s) in Tsuba. An aesthetic study by Kazutaro Torigoye and Robert E. Haynes (from the Tsuba Geijutsu-kō of Kazataro Torigoye. Edited and published by Alan L. Harvie for the Nothern California Japanese Sword Club, 1994-1997) on pages 163-4, though I was not able to locate the tsuba in the original publication. Possibly, this fragment of the book was added by Robert Haynes. Markus Sesko speculates about Misumi in his The Japanese toso-kinko Schools.// Lulu Inc., 2012 on pages 374-5: "Misumi Kōjo Tsuba. Iron plate, elliptical shape, shakudō takabori suemon, yamagane fukurin. Centipede." But of course, visual similarity does not prove anything. I was not able to find any traces of signature or a triangle on the seppa-dai.
Misumi Kōji Tsuba on p. 163.
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Shibuichi Kozuka carved in low relief (takabori, usuniku-bori) and inlaid in gold and silver with design of Shoko, reading by moonlight, thatch, pine rosettes, and fool moon. According to Henri L. Joly [LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART. London, 1908; LIB-1416 in this collection] Shoko was a Chinese student of Taoism who was so poor that he had no money to buy illuminating materials and read by moonlight. Shoko mentioned in the article about another Chinese character - Shaen, who was reading by the light emitted by glow-worms (see page 310). Signed on the back: Haruchika (春親) + kaō. Size: 97.3 mm (H) x 14.8 mm (W). Edo period, mid 19th century. NBTHK Certificate № 449542. Hamano Haruchika from Edo was a student of Haruyuki in 1848-54; Hamano School, Etchū Toyama Branch, according to M. Sesko's "Genealogy", page. 34. Most probably it is his work. Following the MFA data, it is also possible that "our" Haruchika is indeed Nara Haruchika or Tsuchiya Haruchika from Nara School; though I did not hind such artist in Markus Sesko books. However, in his "Toso-Kinko" on page 177 there is certain Shingorō who carried out his business under the name of Yanagawa Haruchika (1791-1857?) -
Iron tsuba of square with cut-off edges form (sumi-iri-kakugata) with lattice design in openwork (sukashi) and pierced center.
Unsigned. Late Muromachi period, ca. 16th century.
Size: 73.2 x 72.4 x 3.6 mm References: 1) Tsuba Kanshoki. Kazutaro Torogoye, 1975, p. 95, lower image. It's also called Kyō shōami. 2) KTK-11: Koshi motif, Late Muromachi (16th c.) -
Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞]; a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865).Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche.
Publisher: Kojimaya Jūbei (c. 1797-1869), seal: Hanmoto, Jū [板元, 十] (Marks 19-043 | 264c).
Double nanushi censor seals: Mera & Watanabe – Kaei 4 (1851).
Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e), 298 x 228 mm depicting a young woman adjusting her hairpin and holding a portable lantern (andon) on a marine background with the full moon, nearby boats and distant cormorant fishers. -
Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, c. 1815 – 1869). Double nanushi censor seals: Hama & Magome, Kaei 2-5 (1849 – 1852). An uncut fan print (uchiwa-e, 220 x 292 mm) depicts a beautiful woman sitting on a balcony overlooking a bay and reading a book. Above the book, there is an obi with a pattern of stripes or modified key fret motif, with lettering that reads: 菅原島 [Sugawara-jima] and 美立 [mitate]. The lettering and the blossoming plum branch next to the obi provide an allusion to Sugawara no Michizane [菅原 道真/菅原 道眞] (Japanese, 845 – 903) - a prominent scholar and poet of Heian period exiled from Kyoto to the island of Kyushu as a result of another courtier's slander. A legend says that his beloved plum tree was so fond of its master that it flew to Kyushu with Sugawara. The Davis Museum at Wellesley College describes the print as belonging to the series A Parody of Sugawara Stripe Patterns (Mitate Sugawara-jima). To make the fact of an allusion transparent, Kunisada had changed the usual way of writing "Sugawara stripes" from 菅原縞 to 菅原島 and "mitate" from 見立 to 美立. An unusual spelling was also used to provide additional information to the reader in other cultures. E.g. during the Prohibition Era, the West Coast United States speakeasy bars and bordellos misspelt the items on a menu ("scollops") or in a neon sign ("Martuni's") to tell: here we have more pleasures for you than you may have expected. After Tenpō reforms, the printing of bijin-ga (美人画, "picture of beautiful woman") images was restricted. Our print disguises a typical bijin-ga as an advertisement of an obi (帯, a kimono sash) fabric pattern. "The market of portraits was satisfied and the authorities fooled" [Rebecca Salter. Japanese popular prints. — Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006]. -
Artist: Utagawa Yoshikazu [歌川芳員] (Japanese, fl. c. 1850 – 1870). Publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi [若狭屋与市] (Japanese, fl. 1794 – 1897). Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: 1861 (Man'en 2 / Bunkyū 1, from 19/02). -
Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Ōju Toyokuni ga [応需豊国画] in a toshidama cartouche. Double nanushi censor seals Mera & Murata (1846-50). Publisher: Kojimaya Jūbei [小嶋屋重兵衛] (Japanese, fl. c. 1797 – 1869). A gentleman, probably a kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon IV [中村歌右衛門] (Nakamura Shikan II, Nakamura Tsurusuke I, Nakamura Tōtarō, Japanese, 1796 – 1852) drinking tea on a veranda under the shining moon. Series Moon, Sun, Stars [月日星] (tsuki-hi-hoshi/boshi), the three sources of light (sankō) [三光]: -
Iron tsuba of a round form (maru-gata) pierced (sukashi) with two six-petal flowers at 6 and 12 o’clock and modified lozenges at 3 and 9 o’clock, and inlaid in brass (suemon-zōgan) with tendrils and flowers (chrysanthemum, cherry blossom, Chinese bellflower, paulownia); openings outlined with scalloped brass wire. The plate is slightly concave with traces of lacquer on the surface. Nakago-ana plugged with copper sekigane. Some elements of inlay missing. The rim with conspicuous tekkotsu, quite worn. Measurements: Height 92.0 mm; Width 86.3 mm; thickness at seppa-dai 3.2 mm, at rim 4.2 mm. Time: Late Muromachi (1514 – 1573) or earlier. -
Hardcover volume, 35 x 27 cm, bound in grey cloth, blind stamped characters to front, brown characters to spine, in a glassine dust jacket, in a double slipcase, the outer case pictorial paper over cardboard, 36 x 28 cm, pp.: [4] [1] 2-124 (plates with photographs of 241 items), [2] 127-171 [3]. Kyō ware [京焼] (Kyō-yaki) – pottery from Kyoto. 日本の陶磁 – Japanese ceramics, series title. Contributors: Yasunari Kawabata [川端 康成] (Japanese, 1924 – 1972) – author. Tetsuzo Tanikawa [谷川 徹三] (Japanese, 1895 – 1989) – author. Seizo Hayashiya [林屋晴三] (Japanese, 1928 – 2017) – editor. Chūōkōron-sha [中央公論社] – publisher. -
Iron tsuba of round form decorated with inlay of four concentric rows of brass dots or nail heads (ten-zōgan) and a circular brass wire inlay inside the innermost row of dots. Copper sekigane. Muromachi period, 15th or 16th century. Unsigned. Ōnin school. Size: 87.9 x 87.8 x 2.2 mm. Ōnin school got its name from the Ōnin War (応仁の乱 - Ōnin no Ran) - a civil war that lasted 10 years (1467–1477) during the Muromachi period in Japan. -
Late 19th-century (1850-1870) Japanese export fan. This fan has a double leaf painted with a different design on either side. Ivory encrusted with gemstones (birds and shippomon motif). Painting by ukiyo-e artist and printmaker Katsushika Isai (1821–1880) represents a riverside landscape with figures; birds and flowers on the reverse. Signed: Isai ga (為斎画) - "Painted by Isai". -
Iron tsuba of round form with design of hatchet executed in openwork (sukashi) and three fan panels motif on both sides carved in low relief (sukidashi-bori). Designs on the fan panels - face: bellflower, plum blossom in mist, grass leaves; - back: clouds, grass, and half plum blossom in mist. Copper sekigane. Koga-hitsu-ana probably cut out on a later date. Kamakura or kamakura-bori school. Edo period. Height: 83.8 mm, Width: 82.2 mm, Thickness at seppa-dai: 3.2 mm. NBTHK certificate № 4005500: Hozon (worthy of preservation). -
Iron tsuba of round form with design of lattice (kōshi-mon, 格子文) cut in openwork (sukashi), with low relief shallow linear carving along the bars. Well forged plate with brown-ish hue. To the right of nakago-ana there is a clear inscription of the character Shō (正), which is explained by Markus Sesko is follows: "The Shinsa obviously recognized more from the signature when having the tsuba in hand, i.e. they were confident to say it is signed "Shōami" but the rest is illegible (ika-fumei, 以下不明). That is, if they were just able to read the first character SHŌ (正) and saw that there were two more, most likely A (阿) and MI (弥), they would have put those character in boxes on the paper. Boxes around characters namely means that the character is not 100% legible but it can be assumed what it is." Momoyama or early Edo period. Dimensions: 85.9 mm diameter, 3.6 mm thickness at seppa-dai. Weight: 79 g. NBTHK certificate № 425069 with attestation: Hozon - "Worthy of preservation". A similar tsuba is presented at Japanese Sword Fittings from the R. B. Caldwell Collection. Sale LN4188 "HIGO". Sotheby's, 30th March 1994, №15. The description says: "A rare early Kamakura-bori tsuba. Nambokucho period (late 14th century). Of circular form, the dark plate carved and pierced with a gate design, the struts with double engraved lines. Unsigned. 8.5 cm." The lot was sold for 1,840 GBP.We have two possible explanations of the discrepancy between Sotheby's and Shinsa/Sesko attribution: 1) either Sotheby's or Shinsa/Sesko were wrong in their attribution or 2) these are two different pieces, one - Kamakura-bori from the 14th century and another - Shōami from 16th/17th century. Anyway, I would consider my piece as a Shōami tsuba of Momoyama - early Edo period, just for the sake of modesty.
Caldwell Collection. Sotheby's 1994, №15.
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Tsuba of chrysanthemoid form (kikka-gata) with yamagane core and woven copper wire pattern. Copper sekigane. Shingen school. Height: 70.2 mm; Width 67.2 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 3.4-3.6 mm, overall 7.3 mm. Weight 82.7 g Inscription on the wooden box reads: "Muromachi period Mumei Zōgan Shingen Tsuba" Muromachi period, 16th century. Age attribution is based on the fact that the core is made of yamagane; later copies of Edo period are usually made of iron. This small and light tsuba was likely mounted on a combat sword, while larger and much heavier woven wire Shingen tsuba of Edo period were of purely decorative purpose. http://varshavskycollection.com/shingen-tsuba/
