Yasutake

[Ray Singer]

Interesting placement of the mei on this piece...

 

https://www.aoi-art.com/auction/en/auct ... 1213703271

 

I assume that space was reserved on the nakago for an additional inscription, perhaps this was one of 2-3 pieces made for a special order. Thoughts?

 

- Ray

[Ted Tenold]

I think you make a good point. It is interesting, and I'd agree it was probably made to fill an order for an Omamori. The time period this one was made would suggest that if more than one were made the smith would certainly want to maximize his return on output by signing all of them. In pre-Meiji the smiths had a much larger market to facilitate selling their unsigned pieces. This could also just be an example of a smith providing the client with several truely completely finished works (including mei) to choose from, with the unchosen one(s) left with odd placement mearly a consequential result.

 

Interesting, and though we can speculate from the placement, the intention and reasons are still a bit of a mystery.