Strange menuki theme.

[Bazza]

14 hours ago, raynor said:

Ah, the ruffling of feathers. Too loud and it will drown out your ability to learn.

Too hot and the wax in the wings will melt ...

BaZZa.

[Spartancrest]

I found two hand drawn images of Ruyi menuki in the Metropolitan Museums collection from  "Album of Designs for Metal Carving (Chōsen Gafu)" by  Ranzan Tsuneyuki  [mid 19th century]

 

[Babu]

Cracking book Dale.there are two volumes of designs in the museum.

One design in the volume you refer yo is a match for my Ranzan Tsuneyuki fuchigashira set which further backs up the mei as shoshin.

Superb craftsman.

Yamamoto family

 

[Spartancrest]

Yes Adam a great reference. I have found one image from the same volume that matches the design of a guard found in the National Gallery of Victoria [Australia] The guard though is unsigned. I am seriously thinking of doing a copy of the volume for my own reference, it is all in the public domain so there would be no copyright problems. I do wonder if the designs are for "new" pieces or is the book a collection of "past" pieces? Some pictures look like rubbings of existing work.

[Babu]

It's a collaborative effort really .

He collected designs as much as made his own.

Some will be other people's ideas some his, all put into the books for a client to select.

Sadly due to this you cannot definitely say that a piece referenced in the books is by him unless signed in Soshu script.

Especially as in your example where it's not his mei in the book but another's.

However your tsuba example could be missing that mei in the drawing because it's really close workmanship.

Get that mei translated and your a step closer.

These books were also passed on to other artisans for decades . Things were added at later stages.

 

[Spartancrest]

Adam I found another guard represented in that design book. 

 

Found in the Detroit Museum of Art. ID. number  70.705 The real guard has a seppa-dai but all the other design elements are there, I could not find the ura side of the real guard. - So we know the designs were in fact made, others may turn up. [sorry I am getting off the main subject of the post but all these cross links are fascinating.]

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Spartancrest
bad links

[Babu]

Your images are broken links Dale.

 

[Spartancrest]

Sorry Adam fixed now. It was impossible for me to see the problem. Since found another - not perfect match but very close.

The Guard is from the D.Z. Norton collection, in this case the oni is hidden up a tree rather than running away from the reflection in the stream. My theory is it may be a daisho pair to the original design? 

[Babu]

Yes I like the first one more than the katakirabori but thats just personal taste.

The designs are sort of ideas really.

They often are perfect replications but don't have to be.

In your second example we can see this is as you say likely a Daisho set.

However I always thought true Daisho sets were cohesive rather than identical???

I mean similar in theme or connected but not exactly the same.

[Spartancrest]

Adam

I came across this today in a sold book of metalwork designs: The Ruyi looks closer to the menuki set with the long cords. 

The image is blown up from a very small photo so the resolution is poor: The link is to the sold book with some page images. 

http://www.morra-japaneseart.com/books/archive-of-books/1788-various-artists-tsuba-designs.html

 

And just to prove Ruyi do appear on tsuba, there is an image from an old ebay sale.

[Babu]

Thank you it proves it was as set as I thought. 

Thats brilliant! 

[Babu]

On 9/19/2020 at 1:07 PM, Spartancrest said:

Adam I found another guard represented in that design book. 

 

Found in the Detroit Museum of Art. ID. number  70.705 The real guard has a seppa-dai but all the other design elements are there, I could not find the ura side of the real guard. - So we know the designs were in fact made, others may turn up. [sorry I am getting off the main subject of the post but all these cross links are fascinating.]

 

It's interesting the surface texture is not represented in the book so this must be as the client requested. I think a plain ground would have been better for this tsuba but that's just personal taste. 

Lovely polished shibuichi would have been excellent. 

[Tanto54]

Adam, you are amazing!  This doesn't prove that your menuki are a set.  The item in your menuki  is a flower not a hossu (fly whisk)...  You have some serious Cognitive Dissonance or integrity issues.

[Brian]

It is a flower.
But what's the point. Make up your own minds.