Early Tsuba (Satsuma?)

[Steve Waszak]

This tsuba is a bit of a stumper for me in terms of identifying a "school" or even the period it may have been made.  In my experience, it is a very unusual piece.  It is rather large and relatively thin, at 8.7cm x 3mm, and the concentric circle design/motif is one that I believe dates way back, even as early as Kamakura Period work.  This tsuba is of course nowhere near that early, but I do wonder if it may be a late-Muromachi work.  More conservatively, I would date it to Momoyama, if for no other reason than the comparative freedom and "wildness" of the design.  The strait-laced conservative sensibility of the Edo period would seem to preclude this as a time of production, though earliest Edo is possible. 

The tsuba has lost most of its nunome inlay, as can be seen in the photos.  I cannot make out the motifs of the inlaid areas exactly, but some appear to be characters.  The plate is of iron, and an interesting detail is what appears to be very fine cross-hatching all over the central band of the plate, not merely where the inlay would have been.  There is a very curious area around the seppa-dai, inlaid in silver I believe, though again, much of it has gone missing.  The shape of this raised area is one I don't recall ever having seen before.  The hitsu-ana are plugged, with lead?  Pewter?  Not sure about the material here...

This is certainly not a tsuba you see everyday.  It has good age and presence, and as I say, is an exceptionally uncommon design.   Experienced collectors who have seen this piece have suggested that this is an early Satsuma guard, and is quite rare.  More photos available on request.  $450 plus any applicable paypal and shipping fees. 

Cheers,

Steve

[Livio 3rd]

Kagamishi I think... Stemming from mirror making tradition. Though this tsuba was never an actual mirror, it appears to continue from mirror design.

[Teimei]

http://nihontocraft.com/Kamakura_Tsuba.htmlooks kind of similar to me.

 

 

Good luck with the sale, nice piece!

[Steve Waszak]

Thanks for those ideas, guys.  As I say, this tsuba is kind of a head-scratcher for me.  I certainly can see the earlier traditions being "represented" here, but aspects of the tsuba---the nunome, that intriguing area around the seppa-dai with the silver inlay---create question marks as to the tradition or school here.  It really is a cool old tsuba, though...

 

Steve

[Steve Waszak]

Addendum:  I have heard from a seasoned connoisseur that this tsuba is likely to be a Namban variant or at least to display strong Namban influence.  While I am far from knowledgeable about Namban(-influenced) tsuba, this possibility does seem to have some merit.

[Peter Bleed]

I think this tsuba is certainly "Namban" and i would go so far to to suggest that it MIGHT be a Chinese fitting that was remounted in Japan. I'd like to see the other surface. is it flat or is there a bit of cupping?

Peter

[Bazza]

Peter, the "other surface" is shown in pictures 2 & 3 - note the hitsuana.

 

Regards,

BaZZa.

 

EDIT: I agree with Namban.

[Peter Bleed]

Trust an Aussie to know about the "other surface" ( And how ARE my grandsons doing, Barry?,  I hope you're voting for free college tuition. And have you been watching the West Melborne junior Lacrosse scores?) Thanks for clarifying the front and back.  Whatever the case, i still think  this could be could be "Chinese."

All the best.

Peter

[Livio 3rd]

The inspiration, if not the object itself, could certainly be "Chinese". Japanese mirror making originated from Chinese mirror making (so could be Japanese if kagami-shi). I find (via Google Images) this Chinese mirror with similar shaped (if not all "raised") center decoration. The tsuba listed by Steve is iron and is decorated also on "the other surface" - both departures from mirror making taken by tsuba makers in the kagami tradition. I can accept that it might be Namban and not influenced by mirror design, but I would also be interested (for my own improvement) in seeing some basis for that suggestion. Here is the link from which the illustrated example came: http://arts.cultural-china.com/en/30Arts9416.html

 

 

[Steve Waszak]

Perhaps not either/or, but influenced by both? 

[manfrommagnum]

I would not assume that it was all made in one era. An early mirror fitting that was carved with two ana later and had gold added and ana filled in would be my first guess.

[Livio 3rd]

That it is not flat on one side would seem to discount the possibility that it was a later modified mirror. I have seen an example of an apparently modified mirror form but never functional as such (both sides with relief decoration.) This would make the second example. Perhaps transitional between modifying a mirror and emulating mirrors but with full seppa-dai (may make a case for being early.)

[Steve Waszak]

This fascinatingly peculiar tsuba has been reduced to $375...