Lot Essay
Raku Masanaga was of the Hamano Naoyuki school.
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EDO PERIOD (18TH/19TH CENTURY)
Details
A TSUBA BY NARA TOSHIYUKI AND FIVE OTHERS
Edo period (18th/19th century)
A fine oval shakudo tsuba of the Hamano school, carved and inlaid with a warrior in armour on horseback, talking to a fisherman on a riverbank, on the reverse of the tsuba is a camp curtain, over which banners and polearms can be seen, signed Nara Toshiyuki, with a kao, 6.7cm.; a circular brass tsuba carved with Jurojin reading a handscroll and on the reverse with his attribute, the crane, signed Raku Masanaga, 7.4cm.; a good shallow otafuku-mokko shibuichi tanto tsuba carved and inlaid with a dragonfly hovering over a tessen [clematis] vine, the eyes of the insect strikingly inlaid in malachite and the vine in silver and gold, signed Otsuryuken Miboku, 6.1cm.; a lozenge-shaped copper tsuba inlaid with gourd vines in shakudo, some missing, 7.2cm.; an oval wakizashi tsuba, carved and inlaid with a fisherman trying to calm a namazu [earthquake fish] with a gourd, while another rushes to his aid with a rope with which to secure it, signed Nara Toshishige saku, 6.5cm.; and an oval shibuichi tsuba, decorated with fifty-six personages, male and female, probably representative of the 100 famous poets of the Hyakunin isshu [A Hundred Poems by a Hundred Famous Poets], with signature Hosono Sozaemon Masamori with a kao and dated Horeki gannen [1751], 5.5cm. (6)
Edo period (18th/19th century)
A fine oval shakudo tsuba of the Hamano school, carved and inlaid with a warrior in armour on horseback, talking to a fisherman on a riverbank, on the reverse of the tsuba is a camp curtain, over which banners and polearms can be seen, signed Nara Toshiyuki, with a kao, 6.7cm.; a circular brass tsuba carved with Jurojin reading a handscroll and on the reverse with his attribute, the crane, signed Raku Masanaga, 7.4cm.; a good shallow otafuku-mokko shibuichi tanto tsuba carved and inlaid with a dragonfly hovering over a tessen [clematis] vine, the eyes of the insect strikingly inlaid in malachite and the vine in silver and gold, signed Otsuryuken Miboku, 6.1cm.; a lozenge-shaped copper tsuba inlaid with gourd vines in shakudo, some missing, 7.2cm.; an oval wakizashi tsuba, carved and inlaid with a fisherman trying to calm a namazu [earthquake fish] with a gourd, while another rushes to his aid with a rope with which to secure it, signed Nara Toshishige saku, 6.5cm.; and an oval shibuichi tsuba, decorated with fifty-six personages, male and female, probably representative of the 100 famous poets of the Hyakunin isshu [A Hundred Poems by a Hundred Famous Poets], with signature Hosono Sozaemon Masamori with a kao and dated Horeki gannen [1751], 5.5cm. (6)
Provenance
The first, J.C. Hawkshaw Collection
The second, W.L. Behrens Collection
The sixth, Boyle Collection
The second, W.L. Behrens Collection
The sixth, Boyle Collection
Literature
The first, Henri L. Joly Japanese sword-mounts, a descriptive catalogue of the collection of J. C. Hawkshaw, Esq., M.A. (London, 1910), no. 1944
The second, Henri L. Joly, W. L. Behrens Collection, pt. III, Sword-fittings (London, 1912), no. 2389, pl. LXIII
The second, Henri L. Joly, W. L. Behrens Collection, pt. III, Sword-fittings (London, 1912), no. 2389, pl. LXIII
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.