Museums are not always a good spot to learn!

[Spartancrest]

Bruno, yes some nice pieces, I discovered these when I was doing research on the Tadamasa Hayashi collection. Hayashi donated several of his pieces to the Guimet Museum back in 1894 - I am not sure what happened to the bulk of his collection, did it go to the Louvre or were they auctioned off?

[Spartancrest]

https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/8677/   - can someone close to Saint Louis lend the Museum a tape measure please. 

 

Just doing some basic image comparison the height [if indeed it is 44 mm] when compared to the width shows a difference of about the rim thickness - at a guess 3 mm? I don't see the guard being 44 mm in height to start with, it is much larger than for a tanto wouldn't you say?  I don't think we can trust many of the sizes given by this museum. I look forward to seeing what the museum has to say - 

Dimensions

1 3/4 x 1 1/8 x 1/8 in. (4.4 x 2.9 x 0.3 cm)

[Spartancrest]

This is the Museum that just keeps giving and giving  https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/37862/

Wow the sword must have been enormous if the guard is 29 inches across! 

 

Dimensions

29 x 3/16 x 29 in. (73.6 x 0.5 x 73.6 cm)
weight: 3.5 oz. (0.1 kg)

[Mark]

a typo or mistake. probably 2.9" not 29... look at the weight and picture

[Spartancrest]

56 minutes ago, Mark said:

a typo or mistake.

Twice the mistake as the cm are wrong as well - they slipped a decimal point. The museum has a few badly out of whack dimensions and shows far too many images ura side only. It is a relatively big collection and mistakes are bound to happen but shouldn't a conscientious museum take corrections onboard? 

[Spartancrest]

https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/37977/     An oval iris sukashi  - the dimensions don't add up. From time to time in the collection measurements change orientation from Height x Width x Thickness - to H. x T. x W. 

Weight is never given accurately in grams

Dimensions

3 1/16 x 2 1/4 x 3 1/16 in. (7.8 x 5.7 x 7.8 cm)
weight: 3.2 oz. (0.1 kg)

[Spartancrest]

A museum collection of 474 tsuba - but only useful if you are blind!  https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/search/results?query=tsuba  After all, why have a collection where only two have images? 

[Scogg]

I do enjoy that first one! 

-Sam

From the museum's website description:
"Sword fitting. Tsuba. Sentokudo. Squarish. A wolf seated on the ground among reeds, gold and silver zogan, turning round and baying at the moon, silver, among clouds. The wolf's teeth beautifully cut in gold. On the other side a kasa lying on the grass all gold zogan. Signature: Ichiiriuku Hisamitsu. Gold, silver, height, whole, 8.4 cm, width, whole, 7.5 cm. Japanese."
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-661628556

[goo]

That wolf must have been James Cameron's inspiration for the ones on Avatar's home world of Pandora.

[Spartancrest]

What to make of this? Same image used for two tsuba - both about 5 mm difference between height and width, so which description is correct? From Cornell University.

 

https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/9359/tsuba-with-design-of-plum-tree-raised-rim

 

https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/9362/fourlobed-tsuba-with-design-of-plum-pine-and-bamboo--rai?ctx=32b8d7f61e2cbb8afc86a61a47e816b23292c641&idx=26

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

4 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

What to make of this? Same image used for two tsuba - both about 5 mm difference between height and width, so which description is correct? From Cornell University.

 

https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/9359/tsuba-with-design-of-plum-tree-raised-rim

 

https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/9362/fourlobed-tsuba-with-design-of-plum-pine-and-bamboo--rai?ctx=32b8d7f61e2cbb8afc86a61a47e816b23292c641&idx=26

 

 

松竹梅 Shō-Chiku-Bai, the three symbolizing New Year. 
(Not sure where they got ‘Masa’ from!)

Different museum staff recording at different times. Dale, you could be hired and passed around from institution to institution!

[Spartancrest]

11 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

passed around from institution to institution!

Lets keep my mental health out of this!  

[Spartancrest]

In the Museum of Vancouver [Which states it has the biggest collection of tsuba in Canada] there is a guard, Catalogue Number - DB 134 which has "interesting dimensions" 

 

Diameter: 3.2480 in, 8.25 cm
Length, 3.2677 in, 8.30 cm
Width, 3.1890 in, 8.10 cm

 

likewise DB 135

Diameter: 3.6614 in, 9.30 cm
Height, 3.6220 in, 9.20 cm
Thickness, 0.2559 in, 0.65 cm
Width, 3.5827 in, 9.10 cm

 

Can anyone spot the problem? 

[Brian]

Diameter? No...there isn't supposed to be a diameter measurement since they aren't round apparently, and those certainly aren't correct if they are giving a height, width and thickness. Just confuses the issue.

[Bugyotsuji]

Diameter is definitely weird. Inconsistency in terms also causes confusion, e.g. 'height' versus 'length'.

[Alex A]

Ridiculous that Museums don't check with someone that knows how to describe them, kind of embarrassing really.

[Spartancrest]

12 hours ago, Alex A said:

kind of embarrassing

Same museum DB140 

Diameter, 3.1890 in, 8.10 cm
Height, 3.1102 in, 7.90 cm
Width, 3.1102 in, 7.90 cm
Thickness, 0.2165 in, 0.55 cm

 

Crazy, this time the dimensions do suggest a diameter measurement  - but why isn't that measurement the same as the height and width !!! 

Again why can't museums take decent images - have they ever heard of "flash photography" or "adequate illumination"?

 

The quote below comes to mind!

It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard". Douglas Adams ...

 

[Spartancrest]

 Dubious description from the Vancouver Museum:  Catalogue number  DB 158

 Iron (?); openwork; face: three bats in flight, with wings forming outer border, bodies connecting to metal surrounding openings; reverse: similar, but features not defined (or worn); rounded rim; three hole tang; Rabbits Kogai and Korzuka Anna.

 

Really? Three BATS?  Not three long eared Rabbits!  Triple bladed - three hole tang?  No idea what a "Rabbits Kogai" should look like or some person by the name of "Korzuka Anna" has got to do with it. 

O(h) Canada!