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.
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
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.
Size: 71.5 x 70.0 x 3.0 mm.
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.
Iron tsuba of mokkō-form with a pine and a frog on the face and a snail on the back, carved and inlaid with gold. Each figurative element of the design is signed on three inlaid cartouches: Masaharu (正春), Kazuyuki (一之), and Yoshikazu (良一) [read by Markus Sesko]. Snake, snail, and frog together make a design called "SANSUKUMI" - Three Cringing Ones [Merrily Baird]. The snail can poison the snake, the frog eats the snail, and the snake eats the frog. It's unclear whether the pine replaces the snake on this tsuba, or the snake is hiding in the pine? Anyway, the frog and the snail are clearly represented. "Maybe we have here a joint work with Masaharu (the silver cartouche next to the pine) being the master and making the plate and Kazuyuki and Yoshikazu as his students carving out the frog and the snail respectively". Copper sekigane.
Dimensions: 70.9 x 67.2 x 3.0 mm. Edo period (18th century).Markus Sesko writes: "I agree, the frog and the snail most likely allude to the san-sukumi motif. It is possible that we have here an artist's choice to deliberately leave out the snake, maybe he thought that the motif is already obvious and there is no need to add a snake to make it clear that the tsuba shows the san-sukumi motif." [Markus Sesko].
Kazuyuki (一之): adopted son of Kumagai Yoshiyuki, student of Ichijō (Gotō-Ichijō Scool) [M. Sesko 'Genealogies', page 19.] Masaharu (正春): Kasuya fam., student of Masamichi (1707-1757) who was the 4th generation Nomura School master in Edo. [M. Sesko 'Genealogies', page 49.]
Large oval form tsuba decorated with two human figures (scholar and attendant) under the pine tree admiring a view of a waterfall on the face of the plate, and with stylized dragons carved on the reverse among the symbols of thunder inlaid in gold. The plate is carved in low relief with details inlaid with gold and silver.
Signed: Yamashiro no kuni Fushimi no ju Kaneie [Kaneie of Fushimi in Yamashiro Province] [山城國伏見住金家], with Kaō. It is a fake signature (
Size: Height: 91.9 mm; Width: 85.6 mm; Thickness: 3.4 mm; Weight: 169 g.
This is a late Edo period, 19th-century export work to cater to the tastes of the European tsuba collectors. It does not have anything in common with the work of great Kaneie masters.
SOLD
Iron tsuba of mokko form with rough surface decorated in low relief carving (sukidashi-bori) and openwork (sukashi) with a flying bat, a crescent moon, and a cloud over the moon. Bat's eyes inlaid with gold. Crescent moon and cloud on the reverse. Copper sekigane. Kogai hitsu-ana plugged with shakudō.
Unsigned.
Edo period.Size: Height: 83.7 mm; Width: 80.3 mm; Thickness: 2.9 mm; Weight: 141 g.
Fuchi-kashira made of Shibuichi carved and inlaid with shakudō, gold, silver, and copper with the design of spider holding a fly on the fuchi, and other insects (ant-lion, wasp, and ant) on the kashira.
Fuchi: 35.1 mm. Kashira: 38.7 mm. Main material: Shibuichi. Other metals: shakudō, gold, silver, and copper. Decorative technique: iroe taka-zōgan.
Iron tsuba of slightly elongated round form carved and inlaid in gold and shibuichi with a long-armed monkey hanging from a pine tree branch reaching for the reflection of a crescent moon in the stream. A pine tree carved with details inlaid in gold on the reverse. The design seems to be inspired by Kaneie work (Compton III, p. 10, №6a; Tsuba no bi, 1947, p. 33, №56).
Dimensions: 76.8 x 74.2 x 3.6 mm. Mid-Edo period. Unsigned.
Compton III, p. 10, №6a
Tsuba no bi, 1947, p. 33, №56.
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
Fuchi-kashira with rock and boar (iwa ni inoshishi zu) motif. Inlay of precious stones or colour glass. Shakudō, gold, gemstones. Technique: Sukibori zogan kiniroe.
Fuchi: 36 x 21 x 14 mm; Weight: 22 g; Kashira: 32 x 17 x 5 mm; Weight: 8 g; Material : Shakudō; Gold; Gemstones (Chalcedony and Rose Quartz). Possibly, Owari school.
Fuchi-kashira made of shakudō carved and inlaid with gold and red copper with the design of a bat and a fruit (persimmon?). Nanako surface.
Fuchi: 37 x 19 x 7 mm. Kashira: 34 x 16 x 5 mm. Main material: shakudō. Other metals: gold and copper. Surface treatment: nanako-ji.