docliss Posted March 10, 2008 Report Posted March 10, 2008 This is a very basic question that one of your members (? Ford Hallam) may be able to answer for me. Is the nanako decoration on a soft-metal tsuba applied to a disc before its decoration, with blank spaces left for this, or applied after the decorative work has been completed? Thanking you in advance, John L. Quote
Ford Hallam Posted March 10, 2008 Report Posted March 10, 2008 Hi John, in practice both scenarios are likely possibilities. I would suggest that where the inlay and the carving is clearly something exceptional, ie; by a master, then the likely hood is that the ground was nanako'd later. With more generic work, especially where the decoration is applied by means of pegs, ( sue-mon or appliqué ) as seen on certain early Goto-esque kozuka, then the ground is clearly prepared prior to the decorative element being applied. Hope this helps, Ford Quote
docliss Posted March 10, 2008 Author Report Posted March 10, 2008 It does indeed Ford, thank you very much for that. John. Quote
SSt Posted March 11, 2008 Report Posted March 11, 2008 Hi John I concur with Ford, both scenarios are possible. As a matter of interest, there was a Late Edo artist, Wada Isshin (Signed ; Isshin Masatatsu) who produced a set of fittings with a copper ground, decorated with Shakudo, Shibuichi, Silver and Gold Zogan with a butterfly motif. The whole design is struck over in very fine nanako. The set was in some famous early 20th c. collections, Gaskell and W.L. Behrens, but was split up some years ago and the tsuba now resides in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The tsuba is illustrated in B.W. Robinsons 'The Arts of the Japanese Sword', plate 4. The Kozuka, Kogai, and Fuchi-Kashira were sold at Sotherby's in 1977 as part of the Peter Hawkins Collection. Stephen. Quote
docliss Posted March 11, 2008 Author Report Posted March 11, 2008 Thank you Stephen. I was not aware, from the illustration in Robinson's book, that the nanako was extended to cover the decoration. That was clearly done after the inlay, but my question was directed more to those 'conventional' works, with the nanako as a background on the undecorated areas. John. Quote
Bungo Posted March 31, 2008 Report Posted March 31, 2008 in this case, i think the nanako was done after ......... what do you all think ? milt Quote
Ford Hallam Posted March 31, 2008 Report Posted March 31, 2008 Hi Milt, Very tasty piece, lovely bit of work. It does look as thought the nanako was applied after the inlay. The fine line around the actual inlay seems to suggest that. In fact it is evidence of the exact opposite. The ground would be prepared and the piece to be inlaid, shaped to fit the curve of the top of the kashira. Then the outline of the inlay would be scribed around the piece directly onto the ground, ie; the kashira blank. At this stage it would be passed to the studio specialists who would create the nanako decoration. It can be seen that it would be much easier to keep the lines in a coherent arrangement before you have the inlay in the way, marking out the lines is also much easier this way. When the inlay work is to be done the craftsman creates only the very finest raised edge to the recess into which the inlay design is to go. It's more like setting a gemstone. The sleight burr is then pushed back down taking great care not to mar the nanako beyond the immediate outline. Obviously this sort of minimalist inlay technique requires a massive amount of control and experienced judgement to gauge the amount of metal to move that will still do the job. There is in fact an iron tsuba by Goto Ichijo ( I think) in the Caldwell collection catalogue, that has a polished ground with a spray of flowers and plumb blossoms, that is set in the same fashion. In that case the the outline of the inlay is a fine incised line. Quote
Brian Posted March 31, 2008 Report Posted March 31, 2008 Milt, Isn't that the piece you said you were going to donate to me? :D :lol: Nice piece. Are there any matching fittings that go with it? Would love to see a matching fuchi if you have one. Brian Quote
Guest Simon Rowson Posted March 31, 2008 Report Posted March 31, 2008 Hi all, I recently had some work done by Miyajima sensei - the metal-artist and habaki-maker featured in "The Craft of the Japanese Sword" and, being a truly nice man, he showed me some of his current projects and his tools -including the punches he uses for producing nanako. All the subsequent examples he showed me had the nanako applied after the carving. Quote
Bungo Posted April 1, 2008 Report Posted April 1, 2008 Milt, Isn't that the piece you said you were going to donate to me? :D :lol: Nice piece. Are there any matching fittings that go with it? Would love to see a matching fuchi if you have one. Brian I checked my will, no Brian, your name is not there but I do see a kinsman's name mentioned for the gold Kyo-kinko tsuba. Now back to serious eye candies................ Some of you probably recalled I posted this before. This comes with the kashira but I don't think they are the matching pair. enjoy milt Quote
Bungo Posted April 1, 2008 Report Posted April 1, 2008 one more pic............... One of the horn of the miadate is " free standing ". milt Quote
remzy Posted April 1, 2008 Report Posted April 1, 2008 Holy cow.... Could you imagine how long this possibly took to make? Superb! Quote
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