Question on two quality Tsuba.

Dear all, one of my friends, whose father sadly passed away recently came by today with two Tsuba his father owned, one Katana and one Tanto size. From what I can see they are well carved, good shakudo with inlay/gold.

He would like to know possible school, maker and period of these two Tsuba, of which one has a carving of Fudo Myo-o.

Any informaton is welcome.

I must add that he might be willing to sell them to a NMB collector via me, but I am not very good in valueing these items at present since at this time I have too little information on them, that is why I request your assistance. At least here I can get the proper information and honesty, dealers in general will offer a tiny amount of the real value. So nothing certain yet. I first would like to know anything you might have to say about them.

Here are the images, feel free to discuss.

And:

Much obliged.

KM

I really like that first one. Not even the motiff so much, but the ground work

What is that at the bottom right corner of the nakago ana? Surely not a crack...

Sorry can't help with more about them. Let us know if and when he sells. I'm sure someone will assist with more info.

Brian

I second Brian's comments on the suaka tsuba! Mei seems stylized kanji, so will be harder to figure out. Am away from my reference books this weekend, but if nothing by Monday, will take a crack at it.

I think some may comment that the first one may be more of an "export" or decoration tsuba rather than a functional tsuba, based on the position of the design. Doesn't diminish the beauty (and value) of the piece in my book. Very nice.

Great guys ! Looking forward to the mei reading.

To answer Brian,

I have enlarged the photo and it does look like a hairline fracture at the bottom side of the nakago-ana. This, combined with the dent in the side of the rim might actually be damage from some sort of action (fight ? fall ?). the dent in the rim is at an angle and seems flattened/sheared. However I am not sure about it. (sorry no image of that rim yet, might be able to get one later since he took them home with him.)

Crack:

Dent :

That is very sad, as I think that is significant damage. I'm 99% sure it had nothing to do with a battle.

Oh well...what is done is done.

Still...would be of interest. Maybe by tomorrow we have a translation.

Brian

Hi,

Great tsuba!!!

Made by Tanabe Tomomasa.

Thank you Morita-san !

Would that be Tanabe Tomomasa of the Kono school ? which generation could it be ?

Any info on the second Tsuba ?

I find the samurai and the scholar theme interesting also.

(people who PM me, you will be answered when I have all the information and have spoken with my friend about the findings of the board)

KM

Tanabe Tomomasa was a student of Yanagawa Naoharu. There were two generations of this name, and they were also closely associated with Haruaki Hogen who was also a student of Naoharu. According to the entry in Marcus Sesko's 'The Japanese Toso-Kinko Schools' even Kano Natsuo held them in high regard. I've seen a signed and dated tsuba by Tanabe Tomomasa, 1861.

I don't think the crack is a serious issue and shouldn't affect the value. The dent on the rim is also not a terrible distraction but could be repaired if absolutely necessary. The carving of Fudo could probably do with a little bit of gentle cleaning though.

Hard to put a price on but I'd expect it to fetch in excess of £1200 at auction. It's a good piece of work by a notable artist.

The smaller tsuba appear to be an Hamano work.

After a bit of digging I can add:

Cho Densu or Myo-Cho was a famous 14th Century Zen priest (an Abbot) and painter. (1352-1431)

I also want to point out that the intrusion of a design on to the seppa dai area does not automatically imply the piece is late and/or intended for export. In fact this is a feature of a number of early to mid Edo works by notable artists. As long as the design is cut into (intaglio or shishiai-bori) the ground and does not upset the seating of seppa this sort of artistic 'bending of the rules' seems to have been acceptable. In this case though the piece was clearly a commission and most likely for a native Japanese collector, if not an actual member of the warrior class.

Dear KM,

I hope you find this one interesting.

It's similar to yours, Hamano school and signed.

Size: 75 x 70 mm

Pete

Thank you Ford for that information ! Great read.

Pete, very nice Hamano tsuba indeed ! The pine trees are clearly similar !

KM

Another similar Hamano school-tsuba with the distinctive pine tree.

http://www.nihonto.us/HAMANO%20NORIYUKI%20TSUBA.htm

So what might be the age of the second, Hamano school tsuba ?

KM

As I think my earier comments indicated I felt this tsuba was not too shoddy a piece of work. Bob thought so too so he grabbed it and then sent it to me to revive.

The 'crack' on the bottom edge of the nakago ana turned out to be a hair so that issue was easily resolved :lol:

The dent on the edge near the figure's head needed a little bit of enouragement to push out but the result is pretty neat, I feel. Reshaping the rim did result in a cavity of the outer face of the mimi so that had to be filled with a bit of copper inlay. As you can see the repair is now invisible.

The mimi has also been repolished to eliminate a number of ugly scratches and dents as has the main section of the waterfall on the rear to similarly eliminate a rather distracting dent.

This close up shows sulphide crusts, traces of verdigris, grime and oxidised wax deposits.

Much of the gold had developed a silver sulphide crust as a result of the silver content of the alloy tarnishing. This has now been removed as has the sulphide layer on the silver ken and the dents worked out also.

Various minor marks on Fudō's face have been polished out and the original colouring overall re-established. I finished the piece off with some gentle 'aging' and wax.

And this is what it looks like now.

AWESOME WORK FORD !!!!!!!!!

Gorgeous !

Happy it turned out so well !!

KM

Bugger stole it from me, missed it only because of the timezones

Tell Bob he owes me one. :lol:

Great work Ford, looks amazing.

Brian

Wow. Beautiful!

So nice.

Hi Ford,

Nice work! :D

We had our semi-annual Nihonto meeting this week end. There was a fantastic kinko tsuba repatinated by Ford,

Btw, I'll show you repatinated tsuba by Ford, I got them for free as they had been thoroughly cleaned.

WOW

Thanks all, glad you enjoyed the transformation. For me there's something intensely satisfying to be able to recover work like this.

and Brian, you snooze you lose

Which Bob?...you lucky guy, Great work Ford!!!, cant wait to see what you have done with mine.

Here are two repatinated tsuba by Ford. They had been cleaned by a friend, the first one was a shiny brass tsuba after cleaning the second one was light grey :D, he gave them to me for free.

If somebody has indication on school or on smith names Naomitsu from Inshu, info are welcome