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

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Tsuba depicting the Chinese poet Li Po

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 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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