A FINE GOTO ICHIJO SCHOOL SUAKA TSUBA DEPICTING BIRDS IN WINTER

Sold for €2,340

including Buyer’s Premium

Lot details

Unsigned
Japan, Goto school, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)

Published: Joly, Henri L. (1966) The W. L. Behrens Collection, Part 3, Sword-Fittings, Tsuba, Metal, Tsuba and Sword, no. 2020, illustrated on pl. XLIV.

The suaka tsuba of nade-kakugata shape, with a kozuka hitsu-ana, delicately worked in shakudo, silver, and gold hirazogan, as well as fine kebori and katakiribori engraving to depict the roughness of the trunk and softness of the branches, one side with a pigeon sitting on a shedding plum tree, the reverse with a barren tree on a winter day with a crow perched on its branch, the emptiness suggested by the polished, lustrous surface.

HEIGHT 6.6 cm, LENGTH 6.3 cm
WEIGHT 104.4 g

Condition: Very good condition with minor wear.
Provenance: Ex. Collection W. L. Behrens, collection no. 2020. Sold at Christie’s, Arts of the Samurai, 16 June 1999, London, lot 378. A noted private collection, acquired from the above.

bird goto ichijo school pigeon plumblossom square tree