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

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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

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Tsuba depicting the Chinese poet Li Po

  • Literature notes

    Oblong with rounded angles; blunt "wire" edge; design modelled in delicate flat relief and engraving of the Chinese poet Li Po (Rihaku) standing on a rocky flat in admiration of a waterfall; above him is a pine-branch, the trunk of the tree being seen at the back with a rockwall rising above the water; Li's collar and various other details such as spray-drops are given in gold incrustation; irregular ishime ground (broken-headed punch), covering the seppadai, which on the front is outlined by a vague shallow groove.

    Signed: Akita no jū Shōami Shigetsune [Japanese text].

    The signature overruns the seppadai, but is not to be doubted; otherwise one would be tempted to describe this as a Nara guard (Toshinaga style, Group XXXVIII).
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (Akita) (place of creation)
    Date
    19th century (1801 - 1900)
    Artist/maker
    Shōami Shigetsune (active 19th century) (armourer)
    Shōami School (active 1601 - 1909) (armourer)
    Akita-Shōami (possibly active 1601 - 1909) (armourer)
    Material and technique
    sentoku, carved in flat relief, with punched ishime surface, engraved decoration, and inlaid with gold
    Dimensions
    7.8 x 7.3 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    formed carved,
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10271
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 271

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

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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 with rounded angles; blunt "wire" edge; design modelled in delicate flat relief and engraving of the Chinese poet Li Po (Rihaku) standing on a rocky flat in admiration of a waterfall; above him is a pine-branch, the trunk of the tree being seen at the back with a rockwall rising above the water; Li's collar and various other details such as spray-drops are given in gold incrustation; irregular ishime ground (broken-headed punch), covering the seppadai, which on the front is outlined by a vague shallow groove.

    Signed: Akita no jū Shōami Shigetsune [Japanese text].

    The signature overruns the seppadai, but is not to be doubted; otherwise one would be tempted to describe this as a Nara guard (Toshinaga style, Group XXXVIII).
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