Masahisa (?) tsuba

[andreYes]

Dear experts,

 

Please help me to understand, is this tsuba an original work the of same Masahisa as on MFA website?

 

What do you think?

 

Thank you in advance!

[Pete Klein]

 

 

My hunch is that it is the same group's work. Haynes Index has the listing for Kofu no Ju (and Akasaka no Ju) Masahisa (H 04036.0) working latter 1700's in Edo. There is an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum also. There are no listings for the mei in Wakayama or the Kinko Meikan but the workmanship in these examples and the signatures are quite similar and I would offer that this was a shop producing these, not a specific person. Just a hunch due to location and time period. This falls into the Bushu Ito style of work.

[andreYes]

Thanks, Pete!

Why do you think that it was produced by a shop, not by a specific person?

[Ford Hallam]

I think I would tend to agree with Pete in terms of a close association but not necessarily the same master's work.

 

The MFA example is essentially as good as it gets with this particular artists output. Technically very precise but also quite sophisticated modelling and lovely composition, which elevates his work above mere craft, in my opinion. As far as pure steel chisellers go, the Ito Bushu group ( when working in this style), are one of my personal favourites.

 

Andre,

 

your example is very similar in most respects but lacks a certain degree of refinement when compared to the MFA example. It is possible that yours may be an earlier work by the same man though.....but that would just be pleasant speculation.

 

Still a perfectly respectable tsuba though.

 

regards,

 

Ford

[andreYes]

Ford, thank you! You very exactly expressed what confused me in this tsuba .