A Higo Kinko Tsuba

EDO PERIOD (17TH-18TH CENTURIES)

Details

A Higo Kinko Tsuba
Edo Period (17th-18th Centuries)
1) An oval brass plate with the surface carved to resemble stone and heavily overlaid with sheet gold and with namako (sea slug)-shaped hitsu, the plate decorated in relief with spinning reels, water lines, cords, and clouds in shakudo, gold, silver, and copper, some of the spinning reels in Kaga-style inlay with shakudo ground and gold and silver flush-line inlay, the clouds and other spinning reels covered in gold and silver uttori-style overlay, the reverse with the same design
2.7/8in. (7.4cm.) long x 2in. (7cm.) wide

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED: W. M. Hawley, ed., Tsubas in Southern California (Los Angeles: Japanese Sword Club of Southern California, 1973), no. 1362.
Robert E. Haynes and Frederick Martin, Arms and Armour of Ancient Japan (Los Angeles: Southern California To-Ken Kai, 1964), no. 145.
There is little doubt that this is the work of artists from the Higo area but which school is in question. The cup shape and semi-circular row of indentations on each side of the nakagoana indicates the work of the Hirata Hikozo school of Higo, but this style of mark was used by both the Kanshiro and Misumi Koji schools, as well as by a number of amateur artists working in the Higo area.

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