unknown tsuba

[mr botanical]

hey guys, any ideas on this

3 1/8 W x 3 1/2" L x 3 1/16" T or 79mm W x 87mm L x 4mm

156g

Nakadaka or thinner at mimi 3mm, Tetsu has nice chocolate tone, gold dragons could have been executed a bit better but have some fine detail mostly hidden in gunk but the raging sea's in silver are well done very detailed pics do no justice

and if helps has micro higaki filemarks

please excuse the gunk, prior owner must have had some BBQ and no wet naps

any other subtle details I can provide just ask, your guys opinions are highly respected by me good or bad and I appreciate it greatly

 

isnt F/s so throw your thoughts this way

thanks

[Kurikata]

I would guess Hizen school tsuba ?

[mr botanical]

Thanks, anything in specific that stands out as Hizen school?

Aside from being mokko?

the silver is all intact just heavy tarnish, the gold is also just gunk

[mr botanical]

After many hours of research, while "Hizen" fits in written description, doesn't fit well with Hizen examples I'm seeing, I didn't include any specifics so here's a better idea

Shape; Mokko / with slight goshi-gata "convex cross section" 4.5mm thick

Kaku mimi koniku "square rim with slight rounding" 3mm thick at square edge

Generic kozuka / kogai hitsu-ana both 1.85 L X 1.05cm W

Inlay; is Hira-zogan , cross hatching around waves say nunome but not for sure if that's accurate as of right now

Theme; from a study on dragon mythology,

quote; "Then are pictured celestial dragons ascending and descending through the upper air, tearing a path, perhaps, through swirling mists and shadows, "in pursuit of effulgent jewels or orbs that appear to be whirling in space"

first impressions, the silver dots were to accentuate the Nami or "waves" but could also be tema or pearls, jems, orbs? IDK

I still have many questions, in regards the "style" or form of the waves, I'm finding nothing similar, has anyone seen similar work in shape/ form or style before ? If so does it got a "name" or classification I'm curious

And

Am I on a "snipe" hunt based on estimated time period 1700-1800's, odds of narrowing school or provence down above 25%?

If is " hizen" got a similar example you could show me, I did find a couple examples from one school that hit on many points

"kinko" school, so possibly one of the subdivisions? Is my guess here's a couple ko-kinko that had similar points

first pic, waves similar in form with silver dots, tagane around nakago

second is a dragon very close in style among a few other similarities

thanks in advance

[Kurikata]

James,

 

You can refer to some exemples frome the "The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards " on this web site:

 

http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/colle ... 0237/10370

 

It gives exemples of dragons in numone zogan.

 

Best regards

[mr botanical]

Thanks bruno ,I very been crawling around the church collection for some time, very good place to look at examples, the tsuba I did manage to find that used similar artistic style's was from an auction house and had the tsuba listed as ko-kinko I know that directly doesn't match up, but the style had many matching points, possibly they had incorrect listing as "kinko" tsuba that and Google does seem to like to send me on the wrong path lately , at very least the search for info has granted quite a bit of knowledge

Edit, closing topic, unknown Hizen tsuba