Tsuba with design of interlocking hexagons
Sugiyama Motochika (Japanese)
School: Mito School (Japanese, 18th–20th centuries)
Japanese
Edo period
1789
Medium/Technique Main material: iron; other metals: shakudo plug; decorative technique: ito-sukashi
Dimensions Overall: 7.8 x 7.4 x 0.4 cm (3 1/16 x 2 15/16 x 3/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.11858
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia
ClassificationsArms and armor
Signed Kansei gannen hinoto-tori Mito no ju Tomochika saku [Made by Tomochika of Mito in the fourth month of the first, hinoto-tori, year of Kansei (=1789)]
寛政元年丁酉四月水戸住節愛作
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 – d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow’s collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum’s collection at later dates.