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

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

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Aori-shaped tsuba with an eagle

Glossary (3)

kozuka, shakudō, tsuba

  • kozuka

    The handle that holds the small knife called the kogatana.

  • shakudō

    alloy of copper and gold, patinated to a dark blue-black colour

  • 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)

    Aori shape; rough surface; the front boldly encrusted with the large figure of an eagle perched on a pine-branch; a twig with one rosette of needles appears on the back; kozuka-hole only, plugged with shakudō.

    Attributed with confidence to the hand of Shimizu Jingo the first (d. 1675).

    This guard represents a design and type without which no important collection can be considered complete. H. L. Joly considered it to be the finest example he knew. In some cases, as in the Victoria and Albert Museum example, the eagle is grasping a struggling monkey.

    Japan Society's Loan Exhibition, London, 1905, no.Q.55.

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