Mystery Kozuka

[Ronin 47]

Hi all,

 

I just picked up this very interesting kozuka and was wondering if any of the board members had a thought to possible school and age? The kozuka itself has a hirata feel to it but I don't think it has anything to do with hirata as it is made entirely out of Iro-urushi or color lacquer rather than Cloisonné or colored glass. The lacquer itself has been applied over a metal core. The design is also very interesting as it is outlined in gold and what looks like silver wire, also the design itself imparts a feeing of art nouveau but in some ways is also reminiscent of the designs found on European fabric that was being imported by the Dutch and Portuguese around the Momoyama and early Edo. Anyway it has me completely stumped and I would be most grateful for any and all thoughts and comments.

 

Sincerely,

Austin Ross

[Tcat]

Hi Austin,

 

I dont have much to add, just that it looks like a very interesting and nicely rendered kozuka...

Definately gives the feeling of Cloisonné from the photos, but you say it is lacquer....hmm

Appears at first glance to be late 19th or early 20th C, however I am no expert and have never seen something like this before.

[IanB]

Austin, I may have posted this before, but since it has similarities to your kozuka it doesn't hurt to put it up again. My kozuka is of copper with champleve enamel. The quills are inlaid in either gold, silver or shakudo. Within each feather are small cloisonne wires of copper which separate the different colours of enamel and represent the central rib and vanes. Altogether there are 5 colours: white, green, red, pale blue and dark purple, with the two central feathers done in translucent enamels in pale blue and yellow over a reflective foil. The opaque colours are distinctly muddy and show patches of different colours as if they were contaminated before firing.

My first impression was that my kozuka was Meiji period but when compared to the sublime work done in cloisonne enamel during that period, I have changed my mind. Examples of enamelled sword furniture are not that common and seem to have been started by Hirata Donin (d. 1646). Much of the Hirata groups production seems to have been the production of small plaques that were then applied to a separate base to form tsuba and so on. A typical example of a tsuba is shown on the Victoria and Albert Museum's website (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O3908 ... -narikazu/) which consists of small decorative roundels on a shakudo base. The muddy colours and incomplete firing suggest these kozuka are possibly late Edo period.

Ian Bottomley

[Jorgensen]

To me it also looks to be cloisonne work and the pattern makes me think of those on chinese cloisonne vases. The shape/large rounding at the end looks a bit unusual to me - could it be some chinese thing?

[Ronin 47]

Update: 

 

I recently found this Kozuka illustrated in the  W. L. BEHRENS COLLECTION Part III SWORD FITTINGS, TSUBA, METAL, which was published in London in three volumes in 1913-1914. See the picture bellow:

 

Given the style of the Kozuka, I suspect it was made around the Meiji period, perhaps emulating the work of Namikawa Yasuyuki, or someone else in Kyoto around that timeframe? The original catalogue description by Henri L. Joly simply states "Metal heavily lacquered in black, with a conventional design of coloured lacquer, yellow, brown, red, green, &c., in wire cloisons." 

 

Anyways, thanks for all the comments, its a bit less of a mystery now, but still very beautiful in my opinion. 

 

AR

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