A Yanagawa School Tsuba

EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY), SIGNED ON GILT-COPPER INLAID RESERVE SANEMASA [ARIKAWA SANEMASA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1800)] AND WITH KAO (CURSIVE MONOGRAM)

Details

A Yanagawa School Tsuba
Edo period (19th century), signed on gilt-copper inlaid reserve Sanemasa [Arikawa Sanemasa (active circa 1800)] and with kao (cursive monogram)
The oval iron plate inlaid in high relief in gold, silver and copper with Endo Morita climbing out of the waterfall toward the beckoning Seitaka Doji, the reverse decorated with rocks and bamboo
3in. (7.6cm.) long

Provenance

R.C. Boyle, Esq.
Axel Petersen, Esq., sold Sotheby's London, 10 March, 1970, lot 112

Exhibited

Yamanaka and Co., London, "Loan Exhibition Held in Aid of the British Red Cross," 1915.10.14--11.13 (collection of R.C. Boyle, Esq.)

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Henri L. Joly and Kumasaka Tomita, Japanese Art and Handicraft, reprint of London, 1916 (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1976), no. 812.

In the Red Cross catalogue, this piece is attributed to Naomasa, though the signature definitely reads Sanemasa. He may have been the head of the Arikawa school.

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