Bob M.

Hi Colin, I think that the older Hartman collection was by Roland Hartman ( d. 2010 ) brother of Alan, ( d. 2023 ). Both brothers were art dealers who had collaborated in their early years before going their separate ways. That auction was from 1976 which seems to indicate that he had a change of direction in his collecting. I agree with you about the lotting, but when Bonhams get these sort of results....

Good / top quality always sells well especially if it has a good provenance. The estimates were ' come get me ' , but the fact that every lot in the fittings section sold is encouraging in itself. We will never know, but it would be interesting to see if any of these items were headed back to Japan. More probably purchased by Western millionaire collectors.

Hi Ian, Thanks for your posting - I have never heard of this collector before. It is interesting - I purchased the tsuba at auction about 12 years ago and it had obviously had a light clean after appearing in the Fahrenhorst catalogue and prior to my acquisition. The collection that I bought from was Szechenyi Japanese Art. The tsuba was still very dirty and a lot of detail was obscured and so I got Ford Hallam to give it some TLC, with the spectacular results seen on the thread. What was the year of publication of the Fahrenhorst book ? Again it would be interesting to try and establish a timeline for the piece. Best Regards Bob

Dear NMB members, Time to drop a curtain on this thread at least for the time being - over two and a half years is quite a long time and more than 300 fittings being posted was in excess of my expectations when we started out. The number of views and replies have been most encouraging and I hope that there was something for everyone. A big Thank You to all viewers and to those who have taken the time to contribute. I am still active in the market and hope that in 6 - 12 months' time I will have a few more bits & pieces to post as an addendum. My thanks to Brian for putting up with me and helping out with board related queries. Many thanks are due to George Miller for his commentary and research both on and off the NMB - the postings would have been much the poorer without his input. I must also mention that without the friendship and advice of Ford Hallam over many years, the collection would not be anything like the quality that it is today - Thank you, Ford. We are researching as to whether the two parts of the thread can be merged and pinned, hopefully as a reference source ( or perhaps a dire warning ) for fittings collectors and enthusiasts. With Best Regards Bob Morrison

Ref. Item No. 315 Hi Luca, You ask about repatination or restoration ; the piece just received a light clean by Ford Hallam after I had bought it. The colour varies I think, according to lighting conditions. The 'browner' shades were probably generated by photographing under incandescent bulbs whereas the more silver grey version ( my pictures ) used either natural light or cold white . This enables more detail to be shown as a higher level of light can be used which ' cuts through ' the darkening effect of a close up lens. The natural colour of the shibuichi used in the body of the kozuka is influenced by the silver content. This in turn means that the wide variation between the different shades does not show a right or wrong colour but merely one that reflects ( literally ) the light falling on the piece.

Ref. Item No. 315 Many thanks to everyone for their comments and contributions on this - most illuminating. I wonder if it would be possible to see copies of the relevant entries in the Milward and Monzino catalogues regarding this piece? Until Ian Brooks kindly mentioned them, I had not thought about catalogues for these collections being extant. It would be great to have copies to add a bit of background documentation.

Item No. 315 Kozuka in shibuichi with silver, copper, gold and shakudo. Depiction of a fox as a changeling, looking at its reflection as that of a beautiful girl, in a stream. Haruaki School , signed Haruaki Hogen with kao. Appraised as ' very fine work ' in the catalogue of the Naunton collection, ( as far as I can see, this description is unused in any other commentary throughout the catalogue of this extensive collection ), this is a sensationally well executed piece. Indeed it would be possible to enlarge the original image of this kozuka many times over and still be immensely impressed by the quality of the workmanship displayed. I have attempted to take pictures at different angles in order to show the subtle variations of image depending on the viewing angle. Provenance - G.H.Naunton collection, published in the catalogue , no. 2181, plate LXVI. Clement Milward collection Carlo Monzino collection

Item No 314 Iron Tsuba with shibuichi, shakudo and gold 7.50 cm x 7.10 cm x 0.50 cm Subject of Carp swimming through water weeds by Mitsuyoshi from Ichryu school ( Mito ). This was a commission piece - specially made for a gentleman, Uruno-san. A superb rendition of the subject made with the extra care and attention to detail reserved for a special piece. Although it may not be regarded as the best fitting in the collection, it is my personal favourite. Indeed it was the very first item I purchased when starting out on the collecting journey - no doubt a contributing factor to my feelings. I have some ebay paperwork showing that I bought the Tsuba on the 12th Feb. 2002, which neatly shows when my fascination with the subject and artwork turned towards acquisition. Is that a blessing or a curse I wonder ?

Item No. 313 Tsuba in shibuichi with gold, copper, silver and shakudo 7.4 cm x 6.9 cm x 0.32 cm Subject of elderly flower arranger at his art. Signed by Funada Ikkin with kao. Dated on the reverse Tenpo Junyon, Mizunoto-u Moshun (mid spring in the year of the Hare, 1843). Superbly rendered portrait of a wealthy and cultured gentleman. He is wearing expensive clothing and furs, and is also using spectacles (rare) to help his eyesight. The flowers depicted appear to be daphne, pawlonia on the reverse and flower arrangement looks to be camelia. Any ideas from anyone if the plants are in fact something else?

Item No. 312 Fuchi Kashira in silver with gold and shakudo. Subject of carp swimming amongst water weeds signed Yurakusai Sekibun, Edo period, 19th cent. Carp, probably Koi, with water weeds on an almost perfect nanako ground. The fish are depicted as graceful movers and stand out from the fittings in a prominent 3D. Realism and interpretation superbly combined.

Item No. 311 Tsuba in shakudo with gold and shakudo 6.03 cm x 5.10 cm x 0.42 cm Subject of hollyhock ( or is it morning glory creeper ? ) on a bamboo support with two crickets on the back. Signed Tokuoki with kakihan , Otsuki school c.1860. Sasayama Tokuoki ( 1813 - 1891 ) belonged to the famous Otsuki school and was regarded highly enough to be commissioned to make a set of fittings for the Tokugawa Shogun and subsequently for the Emperor himself. The quality of the nanako ground which extends all around the rim is exemplary and wonderfully executed. The plants and insects really stand out when viewed in the hand and the overall condition is excellent.

Hi John, Striking pair of menuki there - would it be possible to see rear views, please ? Bob

Item No. 310 Tsuba in shibuichi with gold, silver, shakudo and shibuichi 6.68 cm x 6.42 cm x 0.41 cm Subject of flowers and plants after rain signed ( carved by ) Ryumeishi Kazuhide ( Goto Ichijo school ) 19th cent. Haynes H02984.0 Tanto or small Wakizashi sized tsuba, simply but wonderfully decorated with plants and flowers including poppies, chrysanthemums and valerian.

Re item No. 309 - Iris Tsuba by Ford Hallam In response to an ' off board ' enquiry, Of all the Hallam fittings ( between 15 and 20 I think ) in my collection, I have only commissioned three. The first was the Utsushi of Katsuhira's tiger , second was the Millet Tsuba and lastly the Iris. All other items were purchased as finished or works in progress. Ford was constrained by the first commission to create a replica and not a completely new piece of art. With the second, I wanted him to make his version and interpretation of millet ( not an Utsushi of one of Tomei's pieces ). This brief was restraining in itself , as shown in the Yugen film, but gave more scope for artistic freedom than the first. For the third, my total involvement came down to nine letters - Iris Tsuba. The design, composition and crafting were all carried out ' behind closed doors ' as far as I was concerned. Indeed I only briefly saw it before it was sent to Japan for the NBSK competition where it did rather well. It is difficult to know at times where to draw the line between suggesting and interference...

Item No. 309 Tsuba in shakudo with shibuichi and gold 7.75 cm x 6.96 cm x 0.36 cm Subject of Irises by Ford Hallam. Image of a ' ballerina of the mist ' with another bloom about to unfurl depicted on the rear. This piece won top gold in the NBSK competition 10 years ago. Irises are a particular favourite subject of mine and I have been very satisfied with the outcome of this commission.