Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)

An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.

The A.H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba) by Albert James Koop

Publications online: 1264 objects

Reference URL

Actions

Send e-mail

Contact us about this object

Send e-mail

Send to a friend

Tsuba with plants, animals, and figures

  • Literature notes

    Oblong, the sides slightly out-curved, the angles truncated; the front decorated with three panels: - at the top, one of folding-fan-mount shape, sunk, enclosing in iroye incrustation a couple of performers (warriors) in a bugaku dance; below are a panel of kidney shape engraved with lespedeza by a stream and encrusted with two quail (probably a stamping), and one of rounded oblong form in iroye incrustation representing various buildings by a mountain lake. At the back, in bold katakiri engraving, with gold or silver inlay, are a tall pottery vase of peonies and a jui sceptre formed as a sacred fungus, also a bat in gold relief. Signed: Tōto no [Japanese text] jū ("resident of Yedo or Tōkiō") Hirochika [Japanese text] with kakihan [Japanese text]. (Unrecorded.)

    This guard and the next [EAX.10956] come periously near to being classed with the flamboyant type of export guard made during the '70s and '80s of last century to please a supposed Western taste.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1870
    Material and technique
    obverse: sentoku, with iro-e zōgan (multi-metal inlay) decoration, and engraved decoration reverse: sentoku, with katakiri engraving (oblique chisel-cuts), and inlaid with gold and possibly silver
    Dimensions
    8.8 x 8.1 x 0.3 cm (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10955
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 955

Glossary (2)

sentoku, tsuba

  • sentoku

    A kind of brass made from an alloy of copper, zinc, and tin.

  • tsuba

    Japanese sword guard.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • The A.H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba) by Albert James Koop

    The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)

    Oblong, the sides slightly out-curved, the angles truncated; the front decorated with three panels: - at the top, one of folding-fan-mount shape, sunk, enclosing in iroye incrustation a couple of performers (warriors) in a bugaku dance; below are a panel of kidney shape engraved with lespedeza by a stream and encrusted with two quail (probably a stamping), and one of rounded oblong form in iroye incrustation representing various buildings by a mountain lake. At the back, in bold katakiri engraving, with gold or silver inlay, are a tall pottery vase of peonies and a jui sceptre formed as a sacred fungus, also a bat in gold relief. Signed: Tōto no [Japanese text] jū ("resident of Yedo or Tōkiō") Hirochika [Japanese text] with kakihan [Japanese text]. (Unrecorded.)

    This guard and the next [EAX.10956] come periously near to being classed with the flamboyant type of export guard made during the '70s and '80s of last century to please a supposed Western taste.
Notice

Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum