rare silver menuki

[Jack Zacao]

Hi guys,

 

Could anyone find similar examples to the menuki below? It has silver back plate but the willow tree seems to have gold color, may be plated with gold. I tried to search online for similar examples but not seem to have any success. The design with egret and willow tree is very common in Japanese art and I have seem it often on kozukas and Tsubas. Based on the style I would say it is Goto school because I have seen one example from the 10th mainline master on a kozuka where four egret almost of the same design/gesture on a willow tree. However, I have since lost the link so not able to find it again. The closest example to it is the link below:

https://collectorsfirearms.com/39515-kinko-menuki-mgj428.html/ 

but it has lower quality than the one I post. If anyone has something similar or can identify the possible school or maker I would appreciate it very much. My guess is a Goto school artist mid edo. BTW, I also wonder how gold is applied to silver base and why there aren't many silver based menuki around whereas shakudo and gold menuki seem to be more common. Thank you.

 

Jack

[Jack Zacao]

After searching the internet again I finally found the Kozuka that has the same design and made by Goto 10th geberation head:

https://tsuba-kanshou.hatenablog.jp/entry/dcf90a14c54397050ddd0d72b9cd8e85

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

You’re correct. There do not seem to be many silver menuki. I still have two pairs but very different themes. I’m not sure how well gold plates onto silver.. (?)

[Matsunoki]

Gold will electroplate onto silver and can also be bonded with heat I think. It is called silver gilt in jewellery and often carries silver hallmarks (in Europe etc). Mercurial gilding also works I think. It wears very quickly though and the silver can oxidise through the gilding.

[Charlie C]

It is indeed a strange phenomenon that silver is rarely used to make an entire menuki. On many occasions, people use 四分一 with a higher silver percentage, or even silver-gold alloy to produce the light silver tone. I suspected that silver might be too prone to oxidising, but people still use silver gilding and even silver 置金 on menukis, so I don't know why pure silver is a less popular choice. Maybe there was some Edo aesthetic thing that we couldn't comprehend today.

[vajo]

what is that?

 

[Jack Zacao]

That seems to be the edge of the gold plate or where the gold color stops. There seems to be a small crack around the edge where I can almost tell the gold is applied by a foil. at least the circled area on the left suggests.

 

Other than the base metal I am more interested in knowing if this is Goto work or other school immitation?

[Jack Zacao]

I certainly was hoping the base is gold and silver alloy but the color is too pale in reality. Is there anyway to tell without equipment ? the pair weighs about 14 grams and are 1 7/16 inch long

[Charlie C]

Try to measure the density of this piece with water and see if it's higher than silver's density.

 

I fear that it's nearly impossible to decide which school produced it, unless you send it for shinsa. They have a huge database that is accessible only to themselves.