Kantei game 2

[Michael 101]

Thought yesterdays kantei was good fun and thought Id add one of my own.

 

This one is distinctly go stone in profile (thicker in the middle) and in addition to its shakudo and silver inlay has finely carved amida yasuri.

 

Its 7cm high x 6.9cm wide x 0.48cm thick at the centre.

 

Let me know your thoughts or questions

 

 

Kind regards

 

Michael

[Stephen]

hey I can play this game ,,,,SHOAMI!!!!

[Marius]

Nishigaki.

[Kronos]

I would say Umetada but it seems to be lacking in quality.

[Curran]

This is much more challenging than the Shoami kantei.

The devil is in the detail.

 

I know the answer on this one, but don't think I would have been so sure without reference books and one or two tell tale details.

At first glance, I would have gone with another school.

[Kronos]

I should know the answer as I saw an almost identical papered Tsuba a couple of days ago for sale, can't for the life of me remeber which school it was though.

[kaigunair]

I'll call Toda school, but I've only seen iron examples sans the inlay. If solely based on materials and design, sans shape, I'd call umetada.

 

For the record, I'll go with Toda. I hope it didn't paper umetada, as that would be another grab bag attribution IMHO....

[Brian]

Don't know which school, but think this is a high class and well done tsuba.

 

Brian

[kunitaro]

加賀象嵌

Kaga-zogan

by

加賀金工

Kaga-kinko ???

[seattle1]

Hello:

Well I guess my guess of very late Owari didn't do for the last one, but if the origami said Shoami and nothing more, someone should ask for a refund. As for the current one, all I can say it shows the triumph for workmanship over art, whichever school that fits.

Arnold

[b.hennick]

Kaga and Umtada both did this type of inlay. I think Kaga.

[Tcat]

Kaga..

 

Elephant trap?

[Gabriel L]

I don't know tōsōgu well enough to begin to kantei, but I'm with Brian on the qualitative assessment!

[MauroP]

My guess is Umetada (...or Shoami, of course).

Bye, Mauro

[Alan Morton]

gota go with Umetada

Alan

[Michael 101]

I can fully understand the various calls, especially so for Umetada.

 

Not an easy one at all, which is the fun of these anyway.

 

Only one person nailed it - Higo Nishigaki more specifically the second master Shigesaku (1639-1717) The very tastefully placed inlaid pattern is called Sayagata, a crest design originally found on silk. This example shows some wear and would most likely have been originally fitted with a shakudo fukurin.

 

The second master also studied under the Goto school and his work is often very refined. Unfortunately my photos do not do it justice as the amida yasuri are very finely carved.

 

The aori gata shape and the matching hitsu ana are more typically Higo in style.

 

I have added a picture of a very similar example complete with its fukurin, published in Ito Mitsuhira's excellent book on Nishigaki Kanshiro works for comparison.

 

Many thanks Michael

[Brian]

Well done Mariusz

I wouldn't have gone there, but a great result and a fine tsuba. Thanks for sharing.

 

Brian

[Tcat]

First instinct was higo, but thought umetada was the elephant trap

 

Good game, and very nice tsuba.

[Peter Bleed]

Mike,

I couldn't even try this one, but it was great fun and educational at several levels. Thanks. If one of these comes my way, I'll snap it right up.

Peter

[kaigunair]

Paper'd or opinion?

 

Either way, a nice example.

[kaigunair]

Hmmmm....kantei 1 by a different member mention both NBTHK and Nthk papers.

 

Kantei #2 .....is this based solely on the book example (which has some different and interesting details compared to the kantei example)? Would be helpful to know if the papering organizations expressed an opinion, as it helps to broaden the knowledge about what they will paper so specifically...

[Higo-san]

Here is just another very similiar example with a completely different attribution:

 

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22248/lot/1208/

[Michael 101]

Thank you for posting the link to a very similar tsuba but this time attributed to Yogoro school, as I note are two other very different tsuba from the same sale.

 

Its very interesting as other Yogoro (Mito) work also points towards a conection with the Goto school (to whom the second Kanshiro studied under) and thank you for posting.

 

To clarify my kantei was based purely on my own studies and discussion with another more experienced higo collector and close reference to Ito Mitsuhira's excellent publications and studies.

 

Attributions change as more information becomes available and I very much respect the focused higo school research carried out by Mitsuhira san in his recent work.

 

This tsuba does not have any papers - I would submit - my only concern would be the return of another rather expensive "Higo" attribution.

 

Kindest regards and thanks

Michael