Jesta

Thanks Dale. Once again, your encyclopaedic memory astonishes me…

Thanks, I will look into the school. Yours shows quite a bit more refinement, but I can see the stylistic similarities.

Thank you. Approx 6.8cm(w) x 7cm(h)

After a recent issue, I am presenting this one with my heart in my mouth I picked this one up from Jauce. It seems to show rice, either after it has been harvested, or just before. Definitely, iron, and highlighted with what looks like gold leaf. Any thoughts on it when it comes to authenticity, origins, etc? This one was not expensive and it looks and feels OK, but I remain very wary of buying from Jauce in general. Thanks in advance…

I would be more likely to agree with you on the connection between the ana and the design if the design took the ana into account or flowed around it. But one of the leaves is almost entirely swallowed by the ana. If it was added after the ana then I can’t see a reason to do it like that. The ana pretty much have to be where they are, but the design can be anywhere. (I should nore that I recognise that “I can’t think of a reason” is not a good argument against something, so you could well be right, I am just currently still unconvinced without more examples to show that this was a thing…)

I find the second one easier to see the problems with (sperm-shaped nanako FTW, and terrible paint on the mimi). What did you see in the first one that raised the red flags?

I recently bought what I shall call the “NMB Tsuba”. If anyone has any thoughts on the origins of it I would appreciate them. It is a weighty thing, with autumn leaves, and seems to have been flecked with gold at some point (there are minute traces on one side). What I am really interested in is why one of the ana cuts right through the design. My current theory is that it was made without the ana, they were then cut into it, and then later one of them was plugged. If this is the case, then it seems to have been used for a long time with the owner’s needs (fashion?) changing, but the tsuba itself soldiering on. Any thoughts as to why this might have been the case? Any similar examples?

The tsuba has arrived, safe and sound. Thank you Marius for packing it so well. I will be giving it some thought and posting to the main forum for some help on its style and origins.

Quick update: I have been in touch with the auction house. They have agreed to reassess the tsuba and said that they will refund me if they agree with the notes I gave them. I am going to send it back to them today. Fingers crossed. Quite impressed with the willingness to reconsider.

I think that Dale has nailed this one. The painting looks almost identical.

The root part looks very like ginseng, but the leaves are wrong. There is always a good chance that the artist wasn’t that good at depicting plants, and just went with the space available.

It’s all good, I’d rather know, and thanks for your offer.

Hi all. Thanks for the notes. To put this to rest… Matsunoki is right, or so I believe. I have run a couple of simple tests to see if it is silver or polished iron. I can’t find any evidence that it is silver, and when I rub the darker areas with a tissue they come away with iron rust colour, so I am going to assume that it is indeed iron. I have written to the auction house to complain that their description was inaccurate and asking for some action, no idea if they will respond with any except a form email, but we will see… I am sad, because it was a piece that I was quite excited about. It is not a cheap mistake, but I am somewhat sanguine about it. It’s still a piece that I like looking at, and learning is always valuable in the end.

Thanks for this. I can’t see the first one clearly, but I will check out the book.

Thanks. I was the bidder…