EDO PERIOD (16TH/19TH CENTURY)

Details

A SENTOKU NANBAN TSUBA AND FOUR OTHERS
Edo period (16th/19th century)
A sentoku tsuba based on a European rapier guard, carved and pierced in four sections forming two lobes, each with two opposed dragons and two others amid scrolling vines, the gaps between, at the top and bottom of the tsuba each with the head of a fierce shishi, 7.1cm.; a sentoku Shoami tsuba boldly carved with clouds in a swirling wind, 7.8cm.; an early sentoku champlevé enamel tsuba of lozenge shape, decorated with three-tailed foxes amongst grape vines, inset with green, white yellow and red enamels, 7.2cm.; a shibuichi tanto tsuba carved with three playful puppies and flowering grasses, signed Kiryusai Somin, 6.2cm.; and an example of an Iberian hand-guard of the 16th or 17th century, adapted for use on a katana, carved and pierced with foliage, with a shallow European 'drawer-handle' shape on either side and a beaded rim, 7.3cm. (5)

Provenance

The second, Henry Charles Clifford Collection
The fifth, W. L. Behrens Collection

Literature

The second, Henri L. Joly and K. Tomita, Japanese Art and Handicraft: Loan Exhibition Held in Aid of the British Red Cross (London, 1916), no. 109, pl. CVII
The third, Henri L. Joly and Kumasaku Tomita, Japanese Art and Handicraft, Loan Exhibition Held in Aid of the British Red Cross (London, 1916), no. 1160, pl. CLVI and Edward Gilbertson and others, A Japanese Collection Made by Michael Tomkinson(London, 1898), no. 477
The fifth, Henri L. Joly, W.L. Behrens Collection, pt. III, Sword-fittings (London, 1912), cat. no. 1444, pl. XXII

Exhibited

The second and third, Red Cross Exhibition, 1915

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.

Lot Essay

The third tsuba is described in the Red Cross Catalogue as Hirado, 17th-18th century. Another example of the type and of the same shape is illustrated No. 370 on page 105 of the 'Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Sword Guard', described as Hirata school, 17th century. This is, no doubt, the correct description and represents the experimental early stages, before the development of the true cloissonne type of shippo enamels.

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