Tsuba - Fighting Flaws With Flaws?

[Andi B.]

Hello together
I have a small shakudo? tsuba with a strange modification (actually a flaw).
Something was erased from this piece.

I could imagine there was a third - damaged - horse tried to be removed to fix the tsuba...
Could this be the case? Was it common to "fight flaws with flaws"?
Any idea what could have been carved away (horse, person, easter bunny)?

 

 

[Stephen]

id guess old man

[John A Stuart]

Looks like a monkey smoking a pipe now. John

[b.hennick]

I think that it is a larger rock.

[Stephen]

back side?

 

monk looking up, done on many, i see moon behind clouds why im sticking to my bid.

[kissakai]

I also think it may be a person as it looks a little small for a horse

Looks like a nice tsuba so I wonder if it is one for restoration!

If it was mine I'd think hard about a restore, if the removed image can be completly 'lost'

[Michael 101]

I dont think its a missing horse - if you look carefully the horses have a carved recess around them, so this would still be visible if one were missing. Possibly another rock - personally I would leave as it is as it certainly doesnt spoil the effect for me - however expert restoration such as offered by Ford Hallam would be able to restore to perfection if required.

Thanks for sharing

Best regards

Michael

[Andi B.]

Front & Back:

 

[Ford Hallam]

To my eyes this looks like some sort of later application and not the traces of something that was originally there.

 

For starters whatever it is/was it impinges on to the seppa-dai area far too much to have allowed the tsuba to be properly mounted.

 

There are also two slightly silvery 'blobs below the that rock-like outline. Those look suspiciouly like soft solder. They are certainly not meant to be part of the river bank and stream because the water appears not to be moving around them as one would expect it they were part of the scene.

 

And there are two small blemishes at the top of the seppa-dai also. I think that at some point someone lead/soft soldered something to the seppa-dai area. A fuchi or kashira perhaps.

[Ford Hallam]

I should also add that there is absolutely no evidence of any inlay work having being done in the area under discussion.