Shibuichi Tsuba

[JohnTo]

I thought that I’d post this tsuba for all you soft metal enthusiasts. The tsuba is a mumei, shibuichi plate of mokko form, probably 19^th C.  The shibuichi is a grey, green silver colour, rather than the brown patina usually seen with shibuichi.  Are the two colours of shibuichi a result of different pickling processes and/or a variation in the nominal 25% silver content of the alloy? Perhaps Ford would like to comment. 

 

OK, let’s take a closer look at the decoration.  The main figures on the lower right hand side of the tsuba are two kimono clad women, one with a baby on her back and the other holding a flower to amuse the child.  The figures are executed in gold, copper, silver and shakudo iroe takazogan and are remarkably life like and detailed, e.g. the patterns on their kimono.

The next feature is the flowers (probably bell flowers and a lily) depicted in engraved outline and inlaid (honzogan) with copper, silver and gold.  The inlay varies from a light wash of material to a complete inlay.  The fine engraving in this and other features are precise and evenly cut.

At the top left is a thatched cottage in fine gold inlay in a mountain scene.  The top right shows two honzogan inlay butterflies, one gold, the other shakudo.  Of particular note is the fine gold inlay lines on the shakudo butterfly (1.5 cm wingtip to wingtip) and the ca. 60 minute inlaid gold spots on the wing.  I assume that the artist used a needle punch to make the tiny holes and rubbed in a gold mercury amalgam into the holes and then heated the tsuba to drive out the mercury (I believe the technique is called keshikomi zogan).

 

The reverse side of the tsuba is decorated using similar techniques and shows a pair of quail in gold takazogan amongst flowers looking at the moon.  Can anyone tell me what the significance of a pair of quail is in Japanese art?  I have pairs of quail on the reverse of two other unrelated tsuba.  I believe that Mandarin ducks signify wedded fidelity, but quail?

 

To my eyes, the execution of all the items in this tsuba is of the highest quality.  In view of the number of techniques involved I wonder if this is a ‘workshop’ piece involving several specialist craftsmen.  Any ideas on the school and even the craftsmen?  I did see a grey shibuichi tsuba from the Otsuki school with a similar mixture of engraving and inlay in the design amongst the Wrangham Collection (Part IV, Lot30) and that would be my best guess.  However I realise that in the 19thC there seems to have been a more fluid interchange of kinko artists and techniques between schools.

 

Now we come to the downside.  One of the things I love about pictorial tsuba is identifying the theme of the designs, which are often representations of Japanese or Chinese history or mythology.  The components of this design look totally unrelated.  I call this tsuba my ‘Sound of Music’ tsuba because it reminds me of the song ‘My Favourite Things’ sung by Julie Andrews in the film.  You know the song:

Raindrops on roses

And whiskers on kittens.

Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things.

 

The reason behind this sobriquet is that I find the subject matter of this tsuba to be a random collection of pleasant images with strong feminine influences. Or to use the current colloquialism, ‘it’s a bit girlie’.  Am I missing the big picture and does anyone know the tale depicted here?  Looking at pictorial tsuba with human figures in various books and sale catalogues the figures nearly always face the seppa dai, or at the scene on the other side of the tsuba.  In this tsuba the ladies are walking away from the hut and the idyllic scene in the background.  Is this a symbolic representation of the ladies leaving ‘the Garden of Eden’? Perhaps one of the girls has been sent away from home for having an illegitimate child.

 

I cannot imagine a macho samurai wearing this tsuba.  It was probably made for the gaijin tourist market, but there is some staining around the seppa dai, indicating that is was mounted on a sword.  Of course it may have been mounted on a garish set of koshirai on a sword put together for tourists, but then sold separately or removed once exported.  If it was owned by a Japanese person, I can’t help feeling that it was for someone in the ‘floating world’, possibly a merchant, or a kabuki actor.

 

Comments welcome

 

Happy New Year, regards John

(Just a guy making observations, asking questions and trying to learn)

[JohnTo]

Ooops, I forgot the tsuba dimensions:

 

Height: 8.2 cm

Width: 7.0 cm

Thickness: 0.3 cm at the rim

 

John

[peterd]

I have never seen brown shibuichi. Sentoku is brown-orange. Shibuichi is silver grey to dark grey ?

[vajo]

Nice Tsuba John, nice women.

I like it.

The age of the tsuba is not important. I think it is around 1900. Maybe it is made as gift. Nice work.

[Brian]

Like it a lot, but can't help feeling that the original tsuba was very different and that lots has been added later.
Of course, we know who can answer all of your questions easily...but can we keep summoning him for his opinion? I hope so...or you will have to approach him directly.

[Alan Morton]

I hope he does answer, because I love the lesson and further insight I get and don't forget the restoration of the crane shibuichi fuchi and kashira

now owened by a mate in Melbourne. By the way very nice Tsuba John.

Alan

[JohnTo]

Hi Peter (Dibden),

 

I've attached a few pics of a tsuba that I bought from the Wrangham Collection, Part IV, Lot 17.  It is signed Echizen no Daijo Nagatsune...Sadanaka kore o horu (Sadanaka carved this [as the old boy, Nagatsune, was presumeably getting passed it]).  The tsuba was described as shibuichi and is brown, as are lots of other tsuba that I have seen catalogued and in the flesh that are brown shibuichi.  Shibuichi seems to be a generic name for copper silver alloys, sometimes including other metals, that can be patinated in a variety of ways.  Ford is, of course, the expert on this having access to research the V&A collection of Japanese soft metal alloys.  Apparently they have about 20? blocks of alloys brought back from Japan in the 19thC as definitive examples of particular alloys.

 

regards, John

[Higo-san]

Somehow reminds me of Murakami school work; who else sees Hosono Masamori in the way the plants and flowers are done?

 

Best,

 

Chris

[peterd]

Hi John.  Your tsuba looks a lot different to the picture in the catalogue, although definitely the same piece

it appears dark grey, almost black in there picture. Would be better to see in hand.

I think the red-brown colour comes from the more volatile elements having oxidised leaving behind a copper rich surface. For your interest please look up. (in tosogu what shibuichi looked like when it was new 01sep 2015). Please let me know what you think, we are both here to learn.

Best regards 

Peter.

[JohnTo]

Hi Peter,

I agree that most of the literature describes shibuichi in various shades of grey-green, apart from kuro shibuichi, which is black.  Nonetheless, the brown alloy that I see in kodogu at the London auctions is described as shibuichi.  The only other shibuichi item that I have is the first piece of kodogu that I bought (not attached to a sword), back in 1975, at Sotherby's.  It is an Omori waves style fuchi/kashira and is a chocolate (between milk and plain) brown.  As a result of owning this I always take a particular interest in Omori wave pieces when they come up.  To my best recollection they were always described as shibuichi and are chocolate brown.  This is why I asked Ford to comment regarding patination.  We are all trying to improve our knowledge base.  Maybe the auction houses are using the wrong terminology, some of my pieces were badly catalogued, including a black 'bronze' tsuba which proved to be magnetic.  Next time that I am in London for a viewing, I'll pop into the V&A and take a better look at their pieces and how they are described in their handy catalogue situated by the display.

 

All the best, John

[JohnTo]

Hi everyone,

 

It’s over three years since I posted this tsuba asking for help identifying the subject matter of this tsuba.  I originally thought that it was just a mish mash of pleasant looking objects, but thanks to seeing a seemly unrelated tsuba for sale by Touken Matsumoto (see pic), showing the retreat of lady Kogo, I think I can now explain the composition and hope that you find it interesting.

 

I believe that the subject matter is based upon an incident in the Heike Monogotari, written around the start of the 14thC, telling the tale of the Taira/Minamoto war.  Apparently, the 20^th Emperor Takaku (reigned 1168-1180) was a bit depressed about something and his wife sent Kogo, a lady of the court, a renowned beauty and koto playing musician, to cheer him up.  This she did and Lady Kogo became the emperor’s favourite concubine.  This situation seems to have been OK with his wife, (what an understanding woman!) but not his father-in-law, Taira Kiyomori.  Fearing that he was losing influence, Kiyomori had Lady Kogo banished.  Takakura was heartbroken and eventually sent out a servant to track down Lady Kogo, which he did one evening after hearing her playing the koto in the cottage where she now lived.  Takakura and Kogo soon rekindled their romance with secret nigh time trysts which resulted in the birth of a child.  Eventually Kiyomori found out and this time had Kogo banished to a nunnery.

The front of the tsuba depicts the cottage where Kogo lived (as in the Touken Matsumato tsuba) surrounded by the idyllic surroundings of their love nest (flowers and butterflies).  Bottom right shows Kogo leaving this idyll and going into her final banishment of a nunnery, accompanied by a maidservant and her child (name, sex and fate unknown to me, but I assume that it was not Takakura’s famous son Antoku, who was drowned at the battle of Dan-no-Ura in 1185).  The reverse shows two quail in the moonlight, representing the two faithful lovers meeting.

After four years of guardianship of this tsuba I feel that I have finally interpreted the subject.  Now I just need to find candidates for the maker.

 

Best wishes John

(Just a guy making observations, asking questions and trying to learn)

[Babu]

I'm a little 

On 1/3/2018 at 4:24 PM, peterd said:

I have never seen brown shibuichi. Sentoku is brown-orange. Shibuichi is silver grey to dark grey ?

I'm a little confused by the above statement. I don't think the poster is an active member any longer but whatever the case its completely wrong I have over 60 fuchi kashira and kozuka in chocolate brown shibuichi of varying shades.. 

 

[peterd]

Adam.  I just formed my  opinion from a topic. What shibuichi looked like when new. In tosogu 1 september 2015.  Some one called Ford Hallum.

[Brian]

The passive-aggressive sarcastic thing needs to end guys. We aren't kids.

[parfaitelumiere]

Are the relief carving, ladies and quails on back, a later add?
There is a strange scale issue on both sides.
Is the lady kogo other tsuba like yours, same exact theme, with quails on other side?
Quail grass and moon are a classinc theme in painting, seems to be autumn theme if I am right.

Shibuicki can look a certain color when newly patinated, I am always fascinated by brand new patinated shibuichi, but once it gets old and silver has tarnished, the color would tend to be more brownish, darker and also less interesting, but it's easy to see it's copper silver alloy with a close look, because clean metal color is different, kind of pinkinsh color, and also the pattern is visible under magnification, we can see the crystalline structure showing both metal are not perfectly melt together.

Weathered brass, I mean, rokusho weathered brass, and copper have much warmer color, but some other process can bring brass quite a cold color, looking like old shibuichi, same for copper, old copper pipes are good example.

first appears to be shibuichi, my guess is low silver shibuichi, under magnification you can see crystalline structure here and there, but actual color is looking some copper pipes or rain-oil-gaz patinated brass, real color is a very bit lighter.
Second seems to be kuro shibuichi, color on picture is far too light real color is much darker shakudo plugs are almost black, I used a white reflector on surface, it's polished surface. there is a very very slight nashiji structure visible under magnification, some very fine relief dots on it, nit like the shibuichi pieces I saw.there are small scratches showing metal color copper, very bit pinkish, the sekigane and dress are copper.

 

[Babu]

11 hours ago, peterd said:

Adam.  I just formed my  opinion from a topic. What shibuichi looked like when new. In tosogu 1 september 2015.  Some one called Ford Hallum.

I'm just stating I have a collection of many fuchigashira and I've a great many with varying shades from golden to chocolate brown and they are not faded colours. I see brown shibuichi more than the grey you mention although I do have the Grey's.

I would expect most people into Nihonto to have seen brown shibuichi at some point but clearly I was wrong.

It's probably making up 30% if my collection.

What I do know is that the mix for shibuichi will determine the colour outcome and that this is always at the discretion of the artist .

Some of the skills are also lost.

Ford is a respected and exceptional artist and he is hopefully doing work for me in 18 months , but thinking he is the font if all knowledge is foolhardy to say the least and I expect he would admit this. He does not have all the answers to questions from over 200 years ago.

What say you ford , Do you know everything or are you still as we all are learning ?

 

[peterd]

I thought the word shibuichi means three quarter. I assumed (which is probably where  i got in trouble) that it means 75% copper 25% silver.

If other metals are added this would make a difference. 

[ROKUJURO]

I have read that the term SHIBUICHI is to be interpreted as 'one part of four', so it is indeed 25% silver.

[parfaitelumiere]

I think some other variable can have incidence, what kind of copper, is it yamagane based, I think even the term yamagane can be subject to interpretation.
There are probably several copper silver and other alloy sources in Japan, and probably some foreign sources too.
Depending on refining abilities, the final patina will change, also, depending on metal mixing, the final result will be different, there is virtually infinite combination possibilities.
That makes me think about antique gold coinage and jewelry, made from natural gold metal, called "electrum" silver percentage varying from almost zero to almost 100%, making color vary from strong gold to greenish shades to almost white color, even native gold color can vary in the same mine (example, rosia montana mine in romania, very nices leanes and crystals on quartz).
Lets suppose some older metal recycling too, because gold is expensive, so, combination and final color can be almost infinite.
Only individual chemical test could bring knowledge about the specific alloy used for specific item.

[Brian]

54 minutes ago, Babu said:

Ford is a respected and exceptional artist and he is hopefully doing work for me in 18 months , but thinking he is the font if all knowledge is foolhardy to say the least and I expect he would admit this. He does not have all the answers to questions from over 200 years ago.

What say you ford , Do you know everything or are you still as we all are learning ?

[Ford Hallam]

No, I can't say I do know everything...even in my chosen speciality of fine metalwork. But to suggest that I'm just like you, and 'still learning' misses a pretty significant difference.🤔😉

 

What I offer is based on my 40 years of craft specific experience, literally 100's of XRF analyses and 100's of restoration jobs on some of the very finest Japanese metalwork available (not ebay dross). There's nothing that immediately comes to mind with regard to shibuichi that remains vague or a mystery to me. I absolutely would not say, at this stage, that there is anything lost from how shibuichi was made or worked, certainly not in my understanding of the subject. And to reiterate, this is based on 40 years experience as a professional Goldsmith, training in Japan, countless hours of scientific analysis and 1000's of pages of textual research. 

 

I will state unequivocally that when newly made and traditionally patinated shibuichi alloys exhibit a grey tone. The exact shade of grey, nezumi-iro, is dependant on the actual silver percentage AND how long the alloy mix was held at liquidus, or allowed to stew when fully melted. For a detailed explanation on the making and processing of shibuichi you can watch this film we just posted last week. 

 

 

Shibuichi exhibits a finely granular surface structure, a bit like a stone wall, with particles of silver seemingly embedded in a copper matrix. This structure is what gives rise to the characteristic 'nashiji' surface effect in shibuichi. It also means that when the silver and/or copper particles are acted upon by pollutants they can each develop different oxides, chlorides and sulphides.

 

Silver can develop a layer of silver sulphide and then the shibuichi turns very dark, almost back. Or, it may develop silver chlorides, and turn the patina decidedly green. The copper component can become redder or blacker...,or even more green than the tone silver chloride causes, at which point there's a real corrosion problem, again, depending on the pollutants in the immediate environment of the shibuichi. 

 

I've worked on a number of very fine shibuichi pieces, Unno Shomin, Unno Moritoshi, Kaigyokusai Kazuhisa et al, where they've been needed to be dismantled to some degree. Panels in frames, boxes, stands with feet etc, and often found that their lovely greenish or brown tinted shibuichi patina wasn't in evidence in the areas that had been covered or otherwise protected from the atmosphere or handling. On those, untouched, surfaces the patina was unchanged and perfectly grey, and often startlingly fresh, as though done the day before.

 

 

As a specialist, with the additional advantage of greater scientific and metallurgical insights (I stand on the shoulders of others here) than those that were available to Edo workers I'm advantaged in having a better understand the mechanisms by which all of this comes about. But, after a couple of hundred years of using the alloy Japanese metalsmiths of the Edo period knew what effects were stable and what would likely happen to pieces over time. I've even read accounts in period diaries that mention the need to have tosogu periodically refinished, so some degree of ongoing maintenance was not uncommon but deliberately applying effects that would lead to damage or the 'muddying' of the work's visual impact simply isn't something that I've found any evidence for.

 

To summerise,

shibuichi is grey, of various tones dependant on silver content. But, beyond the exact control of the maker the final patina colour can also be affected by the melting time and conditions.

Any other hints of colour are the result of later interactions between the surface patina and immediate environmental conditions.

Some of these later developments in the surface patina are stable, while some are ongoing and will result, eventually, in significant surface degradation. 

 

Adam, I'm also very curious to know why you think that "Some of the skills are also lost."   

 I assume this is with reference to the subject at hand, shibuichi, or why else would you mention it?

[Babu]

2 hours ago, peterd said:

I thought the word shibuichi means three quarter. I assumed (which is probably where  i got in trouble) that it means 75% copper 25% silver.

If other metals are added this would make a difference. 

Absolutely correct but it's still variable depending on the artists choice of outcome and the mix he used. 

[b.hennick]

Hi Ford your post makes me want the book you are working on even more. I appreciate the insight and value your opinions based on your years of study. Thank you.

[Babu]

I have no copyright over this document but it's in the public domain.

I hope it's upload works 

japanese-irogane-alloys-and-patination.pdf

[Ford Hallam]

Barry, I'm now pretty keen to get the book out too. It's going to provide a few points that will no doubt require some rethinking in terms of dating of certain non ferrous pieces, so that'll be fun to watch

 

And, as I describe in the film I linked to, shibuichi is actually mistranslated as being a 1/4 alloy. One important Edo period text explicitly describes it as a 20% silver and copper alloy ,and that being the origin of it's name. This is further supported by numerous analyses I've carried out. There are in fact two, three at a push, distinct groupings of shibuichi alloy. The 20% ball park composition (actual analysis results show a little variation, around 2 percent either way)  is by far the most common.  

 

The only other trace metals we find are lead and gold. The lead, usually less than 0.5%, is a  residue of the copper refining process and the gold is inevitably residue in the silver from it's refining. Again typically less than 0.5%. Neither of these trace metals alter the working and patinating properties in any significant way. The book will provide exhaustive data analysis that accurately provides a pretty clear picture of the whole Japanese alloy pallette. 

[ROKUJURO]

.... Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/971/

He has his own university now? 😲

[roger dundas]

A great exchange. Adam's audacity and self assurance is fascinating , Ford's response outstanding and more than that a great lesson about a subject he is so at home with. Well done to you Mr Hallam. Also well adjudicated by Brian.

Wonderful entertainment in these unsettled times, at least for me and I hope for all.

Roger j

[Ford Hallam]

Perhaps I ought to add at this point in the discussion that if your suspected shibuichi pieces are a chocolate brown colour then they are most probably not shibuichi but rather either nigurome (copper with the addition of shirome, itself a spiese, or refining byproduct, containing arsenic and antimony, and which tends towards a reddish brown) or a copper alloy with literally only 1 to 4 percent silver present, which would fall outside of the generic shibuichi group. Of course, an accurate identification of an alloy would only really be possible with a chemical analysis.

 

This brown patinated alloy has previously not been documented but is essentially a sort of shakudo but for the substitution of silver for gold. I actually predicted this alloy might be more commonplace over 20 years ago when I had a piece by Shoami Katsuyoshi analysed and which contained one such sample. I then found more samples in the surveys I carried out at the V&A. It would appear to me that, based on the quality of the pieces I've identified, that is may have been a cheaper substitute for regular shibuichi, when used as the ground material, given the very small amount of silver used. I would suggest this particular alloy goes unnoticed often when it shows up as a small detail in an iroe composition, like as a staff or other 'wooden' object.

[Babu]

16 hours ago, roger dundas said:

"Adam's audacity and self assurance is fascinating "

 

Jeese no one's allowed an opinion on the NMB are they.

How on earth do you learn?

 

If as Ford stated all the chocolate brown finish that both John Lissenden and myself have always referred to as a "chocolate brown shibuichi" then I stand corrected and am more than happy to re-educate myself and change the descriptions on my pieces to nigurome. 

I was merely educated by John's description of the material and on many of his peices . 

I find it strange that in all the years Docliss was on here he was never corrected by Ford or indeed anyone else in his description of that chocolate brown polished metal colour which he's always called shibuichi. 

In fact it's only come to light now so my questions have in essence helped you all. 

 

So for the record are you saying for that this is not shibuichi and that's a fact? 

Regards Adam 

[JohnTo]

OK guys, getting a bit fraught here.  We should all be just trying to debate and learn.  None of us know everything and I will admit to being wrong quite often.  But to keep open the same type of debate I'm about to open another post on shakudo, shibuichi and nigurome.

 

Thanks Ford for your insights

 

Best regards, John