High Resolution photos added it is signed. Chicago Show 2022 - How did I do on this Tsuba?

[Winchester]

Please let me know. I paid $130.00 I believe, I just like it. Two dragons and a pearl, I believe.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Winchester
Just learning

[Winchester]

Sorry my photos are not the best. Laid against microfiber cloth after choji oil.

[Spartancrest]

Well I think you got a bargain! Undercutting of the tendrils, scales of the dragon are very fine. It does look late and Japanese - the design has formed the hitsu, they were not cut through later like a lot of namban made in China were. If you look at some of the fakes getting sold you really did well!

[I would have liked a bit more focus on the images - they make my eyes water ]

 

I am not sure what the little line on the mimi tells us, is it a casting fault, a later scratch or a slip of the chisel? 

[Winchester]

Thank you for your feedback. I'll try to get better photos tonight; it was just not focusing well.

[Winchester]

Just realized the reverse side is signed.......I honestly just bought it fairly quick and did not inspect to close owing to price and having bought other pieces from the seller at the show. Struck me as a very stand-up guy or honest. I just like dragons in fittings is why I bought it. In trying to take better photos now, I realized it is signed. Translation help and year would be great. I was just having fun, really and learning.

 

[Winchester]

Just noticed eyes on both sides have a dot of gold...

[Winchester]

Should it be worth considerable more then I paid, I have his business card and will give him a few more dollars and this forum to say thanks.

[Spartancrest]

If there is one thing I have yet to work out, it is why some pieces sell for such high prices and another virtually identical will sell for next to nothing. From similar examples selling at the moment you paid a little under the market but it is very subjective. In an open auction two or more people can get carried away but a fixed price sale is a little different - the market will like the price or it will still be for sale years into the future, I can show you examples of over priced pieces sitting in a dealers shop for over ten years! 

Ebay has a few namban dragons -  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/275198438438  not too far off your price. But in my opinion this one is not as good as yours.

 

These almost identical namban [cast at that!] have a big difference in price, you would be hard pressed to work out why! [especially when they are available from Japan for around $30! https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1036357306 ] But your example is far better than these.

[GRC]

Brian, that one is an outstanding example, and you got it for a "garage sale price" 

 

The carving details in the dragon heads are really well done, and unusual.

There are many variations and styles of the Nanban-style double dragons that were made by tsubako throughout Japan (and earlier, from China... it's originally a Chinese motif).

Looks like Yagami school work to me. They are the Japanese tsubako who made this particular style of Nanban dragon tsuba, that I like to call "the zig-zag tail" because of the more-angular undulations in the dragon tails in the bottom third of the tsuba.

 

Yours is even signed (although I can't read what it says), which is a rare bonus  

Maybe post a close up and see if someone else can tread it.

 

Here's some other, similar examples from the Yagami school:

some with the rounded-square shape:

and some round ones:

 

 

 

[Winchester]

Here are a couple more pictures of the signature; should this not allow for an answer, I will put in a photo box and add additional lighting. Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it and will make a donation to the forum for identification.

 

I am trying to catch the light, just right, so I don't have to bring out the light box and specialized lighting.

[ROKUJURO]

Brian,

 

it is not the magnification, but the photos are not perfectly sharp, so that does not help to read the signature

[Winchester]

Jean, can you click on the above image and magnify? This is the clearest I have been able to get.

[ROKUJURO]

Sorry Brian,

 

I am unable to read the MEI. It is probably not HIRADO, and it does not look like a 'normal' nicely and evenly written MEI, but that may just be the photo. Others with better reading skills will perhaps find out what it is.

 

When you make new photos, try to avoid having you shadow fall on the TSUBA. Have some light from the side.

[Winchester]

When I am feeling better, I will try to get more high-resolution photos. I really tried to do different angles and such without a light box and additional lighting, but see now that I will need to. I just plain like it so it is more an intellectual pursuit, as usual, versus trying to make money or something. To me, it is beautiful, not a reproduction and I am honored to own it.

[Spartancrest]

Brian your criteria for collecting are the best reasons there are ! I hope you never lose those feelings.