Diameter: 8.600 cm
Gift of Henry Bergen
Asia JA 1948.11-27.1
Iron tsuba (sword guard)
From Japan
Muromachi
period, 15th-16th century AD
This tsuba (sword guard) has a sombre appearance compared to many, though the plain iron disc is decorated, with circular bands of evenly spaced inlaid sentoku (brass) dots around a central ring. Tsuba like this were are thought to have been fisrt made in the ōnin era (1457-69) when a civil war ravaged Kyoto, but no signed pieces survive, so we know nothing of the makers.
L. Smith, V. Harris and T. Clark, Japanese art: masterpieces in (London, The British Museum Press, 1990)
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Modern Japanese crafts, £15.00