Eric_P Posted yesterday at 06:39 PM Report Posted yesterday at 06:39 PM Hello Everyone, Has anyone encountered any menuki similar to these? Or know a possible school, or time period? I believe these are depicting Foo dog faces and are made out of shakudo. Not sure if the picture do them justice but they are extremely detailed. Thanks, Eric 1 Quote
Grey Doffin Posted 21 hours ago Report Posted 21 hours ago Hi Eric, As these are a bit tall for menuki and exactly the same (not what you expect for menuki), they may be tobacco pouch ornaments. Grey 1 Quote
Eric_P Posted 21 hours ago Author Report Posted 21 hours ago Thanks Grey, Here are a few more pictures showing the size. They have slight differences to each other when you see them in person but I agree they were made to be identical. Thanks, Eric 1 Quote
Jake6500 Posted 12 hours ago Report Posted 12 hours ago (edited) To me these look like tobacco pouch ornaments like Grey said. Both the size and round shape would suggest this is likely. They may have been repurposed as menuki at a later date. This would suggest to me that these might be Meiji Period works. They are quite well made and there are some fine details there. Condition could be better however... Some examples from the net: Many artisans who made tosogu also dabbled in other ornamental metalwork such as these. Edited 11 hours ago by Jake6500 2 1 Quote
Eric_P Posted 10 hours ago Author Report Posted 10 hours ago Thank you both for the information. I had not thought about these being tobacco pouch ornaments. They need a very light cleaning they have dirt and grime in all the small details. Thanks, Eric Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted 3 hours ago Report Posted 3 hours ago Menuki pairs did not need to be exactly the same and many had deliberately differences. A foo dog is a Chinese-English expression, but these do seem to be a kind of Shishi-Shikami cross. (Some similarities with this tsuba?) 2 1 Quote
Winchester Posted 3 hours ago Report Posted 3 hours ago I like that tsuba, Piers. If you ever decide to sell it, please keep me in mind. Quote
Eric_P Posted 2 hours ago Author Report Posted 2 hours ago I do see some similarities with the form of the faces on the tsuba. I called them Foo dogs because I couldn't find another name for them. They do appear to have more of a lion like appearance than foo dog. Thank you for the great feedback and the example tsuba. Thanks, Eric Quote
Eric_P Posted 2 hours ago Author Report Posted 2 hours ago (edited) Also some similarities in the form of the faces on these tsuba from this thread. oni tsuba - Tosogu - Nihonto Message Board https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/724-oni-tsuba/ Edited 2 hours ago by Eric_P Quote
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