Attributed to Koryūsai: Pins #517/p.209, c. 1775 [AIC II: Clarence Buckingham Collection, 1925.2772], Ukiyo-e Taisei IV; Vignier & Inada, 1911; Ritsumeikan University Z0165-239.
Attributed to Harunobu: Pins #239/p.132.; BM 1906,1220,0.85;
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The print lacks signature. It is attributed by some to Suzuki Harunobu and by the others to Isoda Koryūsai. -
Isoda Koryūsai (礒田 湖龍斎, 1735–1790), flourished: 1769 to 1790. The print lacks signature (signature erased).Attributed definitely to Koryūsai: Jacob Pins, #491 [p.202] - Saigyo Hoshi admiring Mount Fuji. Signature erased but convincingly attributed to Koryusai. Tikotin Museum, Haifa. Catalogue raisonné: Allen Hockley: A3-J-5 (p. 261).
Saigyō Hōshi (西行 法師, 1118 – March 23, 1190) was a famous Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period. -
Kikukawa Eizan (菊川 英山, 1787 – July 17, 1867) Signed: Eizan hitsu (英山筆)Jacob Pins #972/p.341. Leiden, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde.
"The Lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi: Tragic love stories taken from real life and dramatized were a staple of stage and print; the darkly romantic combination of desire and death was hugely popular in the eighteenth century. Hirai Gompachi was a warrior of the Tottori fief in western Japan who fled to Edo after committing a murder. He was apprehended and sentenced to death in 1679. His distraught lover, the courtesan Komurasaki, committed suicide at his grave." [MET]
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Torii Kiyonaga (鳥居 清長; 1752 – June 28, 1815) Signed: Kiyonaga ga (清長画)References: No references whatsoever, not in Pins.
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Ebisu drawing wakamizu, the first water drawn from a well on the New Year. Kitao Shigemasa (北尾 重政, 1739 – 8 March 1820). Signed: Shigemasa. Publisher's mark: Nishimuraya Yohachi.References:
Jacob Pins #547 [p.217] - Ebisu drawing wakamizu, the first water drawn from a well on the New Year. TNM II (Tokyo National Museum Catalogue vol. 2) #1373.
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The Seven Gods of Good Luck in the Takarabune (ship of fortune) with a crane (the phoenix) above them.Attributed to Katsukawa Shunshō, fl. 1726–92. Publisher: Uemura from Shiba (Edo). Marks "Publishers": U361|25-300: Uemura han (1793-1813). Marks "Artists, publishers...": Emiya Kichiemon (1688-1835). Artist signature absent. Looks very much like Pins #565 [p.223], but NOT the same. This exact design has not been found anywhere.
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Woman Looking out a Round Window at a Woman with a Komusō Hat.Artist Koikawa Harumasa (a.k.a. Banki): fl. 1801–18. Wikipedia: Koikawa Harumasa (恋川 春政; active 1800–1820), later called Banki Harumasa (晩器 春政). Associated with Katsukawa school.
Signed: Banki ga (on the bamboo flower container in the background). Censor's seal: kiwame. Mark of unidentified publisher, Genshoku #1017; Marks U084 Ibiko, p. 387.
References:
Jacob Pins #828.
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Iron tsuba of oval form pierced with design of slanting rays of light (shakoh), a Christian motif (Jesuit’s IHS symbol), and a pair of tassels in positive silhouette (ji-sukashi). Details on tassels carved in low relief. Traditional description of this kind of design is called “tokei”, or “clock gear”. Rounded rim.
Unsigned.
Edo period, 17th or 18th century. Possibly - Owari school.
Size: 76.0 x 73.0 x 6.2 mm. -
Iron tsuba of round form decorated with design of keys to the storehouse of the gods in openwork (sukashi). Rounded rim. Copper sekigane.
Unsigned. Early Edo period, 17th century.
Size: 71.0 x 70.9 x 6.0 mm.Merrily Baird, Symbols..: The Key to the Storehouse of the Gods, one of the Myriad Treasures.
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Iron tsuba of oval form decorated with design of jakago (bamboo lattice work) in openwork (sukashi). Copper sekigane.
Unsigned. Edo period.
Size: 73.7 x 70.3 x 5.6 mm.Note regarding design: though some might think that this piece belonged to a member of the lost tribe of Israel, it did not. Jakago baskets were made of bamboo, filled with rocks and used to catch crabs (besides other uses).
Jeanne Allen. Designer's Guide to Samurai Patterns. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1990; p.51, №57.
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Iron tsuba of round form with design of double crossbar and two family crests (hikiryo-ni-kamon) in openwork (sukashi). Squared rim. Copper sekigane. Owari school. Early Edo period: Late 17th century (Kanbun / Enppo era). Height: 80.9 mm. Width: 80.8 mm. Rim thickness: 5.0 mm. Center thickness: 4.6 mm. Provenance: Sasano Masayuki Collection, № 172: "A paulownia and a clover are diagonally opposite two crossbars. This expressive design suggests a Higo origin, but the iron and the finish are certainly of the Owari school. Work of this nature may have been influenced by Hayashi Matashichi (1613-1699)." -
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?) -
Silver Kozuka carved in kebori ("hair carving") with a ukiyo-e style half-length figure of a beautiful woman (possibly a courtesan) dressed in a splendid kimono and hair ornament (kanzashi). Signed on the back: Koreyasu/Zetai + kaō (是休「花押」) - transcribed by Markus Sesko. Size: 96.8 mm (H) x 14.9 mm (W). Edo period, early 19th century. I managed so far to find the only mention of Koreyasu at Japanese sword-mounts. A descriptive catalogue of the collection of J. C. Hawkshaw, Esq., M.A., of Hollycombe, Liphook. Complied and illustrated by Henri L. Joly. London, 1910 [LIB-1439 in this collection], page 204: 2623. — F./v., nigurome, chased in relief and inlaid with Omori Hikoshichi (large faces). Signed : Koreyasu of Yedo. xix. 2624. — F.K., nigurome, chased and inlaid in relief with Omori Hikoshichi and the witch. Signed : Shinriusha Koreyasu. No pictures of items or signature provided. -
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 (
gimei). 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.
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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. -
Iron tsuba of round form (tsurumaru) decorated with a design of crane and pines, or "nesting crane (sugomori-tsuru)" in openwork (sukashi). Details carved in kebori. Rounded rim.
Size: 74.7 x 69.8 x 4.8 mm.
Unsigned.
Edo period, ca. 17th century.
NBTHK Certificate № 463485. The certificate says it's a Higo School piece. The design was popular in both Akasaka and Higo schools. The Akasaka example: at Kodogu and tsuba. International collections not published in my books. (Toso Soran). Ph. D. Kazutaro Torigoye, 1978, p. 246: "Late Edo. Jiyūgata. Sined: Akasaka Tadanori saku."The Higo example can be found at Iron tsuba. The works of the exhibition "Kurogane no hana", The Japanese Sword Museum, 2014, p. 69, №56: Sugomori-tsuru sukashi-tsuba (Nesting Carne). Mumei: Matashichi (1st generation), early 17th century.
Torigoye, 1978, p. 246. Late Akasaka.
Kurogane no hana, 2014, p. 69, №56. Higo tsuba.
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Iron tsuba of round form decorated with the design of distant pines, torii, and crescent moon in openwork (sukashi). Copper sekigane.
Size: 84.9 x 84.8 x 5.8 mm.
Unsigned.
Edo period, ca. 1750.
Tosa Myochin or Akasaka school.Japanese Swords and Sword Fittings from the Collection of Dr. Walter Ames Compton (Part I). Christie's, New York, March 31, 1992, pp. 28-29, № 53:
"A Tosa Myochin School Tsuba. Edo period (circa 1750), signed Toshu ju Kuniyoshi saku. The round iron plate pierced with a design of a temple gate (torii) and a pine tree. It has a round rim and there are some carved details on the surface of the design. The Tosa Myochin school, despite its foundation in the classic Myochin armor school tradition, worked mainly in the style of Akasaka school of Edo. [...] Many are equal to the mid to later Akasaka school work and the two types have frequently been confused. Signed examples are rare. Estimated price $1,500-2,000."
Compton Collection, Vol. 1, №53
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Iron tsuba of round form pierced (sukashi) and carved (marubori) with a 'noshi' decoration design. Noshi - decoration made of dried abalone (awabi) and bearing an auspicious connotation of good fortune, prosperity, etc. Design was used as a family crest (mon).
Size: 76.3 x 75.9 x 5.5 mm.
Signed: Echizen jū Kinai Saku. Kinai school existed from mid 17th to mid 19th century; it is hard to tell which master (generation from 1 to 6) made this particular piece.
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