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;
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;
Iron tsuba of circular form with design of pine trees (matsu) and monkey toys (kukurizaru) in openwork (ko-sukashi). Ko-Katchushi school.
Raised rim (mimi) with iron bones (tekkotsu). Size: Diameter: 99.5 mm; Thickness: 2.1 mm at centre; 4.3 mm at the rim.Early Muromachi period: 15th century (Kakitsu - Bun'an era, 1441 - 1449).
Iron tsuba of round form pierced (sukashi) and inlaid in flat (hira-zōgan) and cast brass (suemon-zōgan), details carved in kebori, with design of two phoenixes, bamboo, and paulownia leaves and flowers (kiri-mon) on both sides. According to seller: Bizen-Yoshirō school (or Heianjō school). Unsigned.
Momoyama period. End of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. Dimensions: Diameter: 99.5 mm; Thickness: 2.1 mm at centre; 4.3 mm at the rim. According to Merrily Baird (Symbols of Japan), "bamboo teamed with paulownia blossoms or with paulownia and the phoenix, in reference to the Chinese legend that the phoenix perches only on the paulownia and eats only the bamboo". Citation from http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1986.2.1: "The immense heraldic birds on display [...] reflect the Momoyama era's spirit of newly gained self-confidence and an affinity for grand expressive statements in painting, architecture, the textile and ceramic arts, as well as garden design. While that period preceded the arrival of prosperity, it clearly marked an extraordinary moment in Japanese cultural history, one frequently compared with the twelfth century of the Heian period. [...] Rather than an emblem of immortality, as it is in Western lore, in Japan, the phoenix evolved out of its origins in Chinese mythology to become, by the sixteenth century, an auspicious symbol of political authority. Together with clusters of the distinctively shaped paulownia leaves, this long-tailed, mythical bird [...] proclaiming an air of graceful command".
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Copper tsuba of oval form carved in kebori and katakiribori with Tekkai Sennin sitting under bamboo on the face and with a pine tree on the back. Ishime-ji treated surface.
Signed on the reverse: Jōi (乗 意).
Edo period (First half of 18th century). Dimensions: 69.6 x 66.5 x 4.5 mm Sugiura Jōi (杉 浦 乗 意) 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].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."Torigoye, 1978, p. 246. Late Akasaka.
Kurogane no hana, 2014, p. 69, №56. Higo tsuba.
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.
SOLDIron 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