Edo eggplant tsuba

[Marius]

Gentlemen,

 

a fellow collector (who is an older gentleman, not too versed in computers) has asked me to purchase a tsuba for him on eBay. I have done this, and he asked me about my opinion about the tsuba. Since I am not knowledgeable in Edo tsuba schools, I could say no more than that it seems a decent mid/late Edo iron tsuba with pretty good workmanship.

 

What would you say?

 

Thanks for your time

[tony edmunds]

Hi Marius

 

This tsuba looks very similar to a signed daisho pair in my collection. I too was baffled until I recieved the following help

 

"Since Thierry was the first to raise his head over the parapet I am reluctant to shoot him down, but I cannot agree with his Bushū attribution of Tony’s very nice daishō tsuba. I agree that they demonstrate some Bushū and Chōshū characteristics, but the influence of these schools was very strong, and many tsuba demonstrate this. The quality of the plate, with its tsuchime-ji and its beautiful lustrous, ‘melted’ and highly polished finish is not found in Bushū work.

 

These characteristics, together with the less-than-perfect seppa-dai; the heavy niku-bori; and the absence of any soft-metal decoration all suggest a C18, Oda tsuba from the Satsuma province. The hyōtan motif is, of course, a giveaway."

 

You can serach Daisho tsuba school for the original thread.

 

Regards

Tony

[Marius]

Thanks Tony :-)

 

The thread is here, for all who would like to compare my friend's tsuba with your Oda school daisho:

 

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12995&start

 

I see your tsuba as more refined, while this one is a bit on the "rustic" side.

[Bugyotsuji]

Difficult to get far enough away from these, but are we not seeing Nasu, rather than Hyoutan? :|

[Curran]

Gut instinct on this one is southern Kyushu area work.

I cannot say what school.

 

Others of you have made more intelligent articulated observations that I could.

I'm just adding my datapoint of opinion.

[BMarkhasin]

I agree, its Nasu (Eggplant).

 

Boris.

[Marius]

Of course it is nasu. I have adjusted the title of the thread accordingly. Sorry, I was seeing an eggplant, but saying "gourd"...