Mei (signed): Yanagawa Naoharu + (kaō)

Size: 7,14 cm x 6,82 cm

Thickness at rim: 0,24 cm

Period: Mid Edo

N.B.T.H.K. Hozon Certification

In Kiri box

With hako-gaki written by Tōsō Jikai + seal

Price: € 6.000,00

Tsuba depicting peony and lion.

Elongated round shape, copper and gold alloy with polished finish, half-cut carving, gold accentuations, rim with ring-shaped encasing, two openings for scabbard accessories. Excellent Yokoya school style work.

Yanagawa school was a metalworker school that flourished from Mid Edo to Late Edo period. The transmissions list Masatsugu 政次 (with the first name “Yasu’emon” 安右衛門 and with the gō “Dōshū” 道秀) as the founder of the Yanagawa school but, since there are no extant works of his, usually his second son and heir Naomasa 直政 is counted as the 1st generation. Many metalworkers flourished after him such as Naomitsu, Naoharu, Naokatsu Tsunekatsu or Ishiguro Masatsune and so on until late Edo period.

The Yanagawa school was oriented toward the style of Sōyo, which was shakudō ground with nanako and takabori-iroe ornamentation. Interpretations in the later Yokoya-style of Sōmin in katakiribori on a polished surface are rather rare.

Yanagawa Naoharu (柳川直春), the 3rd generation, was born in Edo in the third year of Kan’en (1750) as the son of Naohisa. His first name was “Benzō” (弁蔵) followed by “Koheiji” (小平次) and later “Rizaemon”. He was two years old when his father died and so he was raised by Naomitsu who had married his mother. He studied under Naomitsu and was his assistant as well. Naoharu succeeded as 3rd gen. of the Yanagawa school when the latter retired during the Kansei era. He is regarded as the most talented Yanagawa artist after Naomasa: he is rated as “yūkō” in the Kinkō Jiten which is the 2nd highest rank. Naoharu used the gō “On’kokan” (温故観) and “Sei’unsha” (青雲舎). His year of death is unknown but it is assumed that he died during the Kansei era.

This Tsuba was shown on May 9th 2015 at I.N.T.K. Kanshō:

http://www.intk-token.it/sesto-fiorentino-9-maggio-2015-kantei-kansho/