Exclus1ve Posted March 2 Report Posted March 2 Greetings! I recently became the owner of this beautiful set. It's a pity that the photo, as usual, does not convey all the beauty. I would like to learn more information about this master and the school, as well as reveal the plot in more detail. Does anyone have any thoughts? The description of the lot from the Sothebis 2006 auction says: «Inlaid in iroe takazogan with New Year revellers on a shibuichi nanako ground, signed Kanryusai Yoshimori and kao» Here's what I could find about Yoshimori. Part of the signature matches in small details. https://www.tosogu.d...nno-yoshimori-kozuka Thank you all in advance! 6 Quote
Jack Zacao Posted March 3 Report Posted March 3 Great work! There are two famous artists named 美盛，repectively 海野美盛 （初代 first generation master, also called 海野太三郎) and 海野美盛二代(second master) This is most likely from the former because he lived in late edo period whereas the second master lived in Meiji period. The first master is the uncle of the great 海野勝珉 or Unno Shomin, who is regarded as one of the best metal artists in Meiji period. I can not be certain but I can not find any other who is named 美盛 . I just realized you already know the maker, above is what I wrote before reading the link you provided 1 Quote
Jack Zacao Posted March 3 Report Posted March 3 Found a similar one from the same artist . Note the Same Kao https://aucview.com/yahoo/m464146272/ Quote
Jack Zacao Posted March 3 Report Posted March 3 The scheme seems like a lion dance. Here is a similar example on a tsuba https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.105/ Quote
Jake6500 Posted March 3 Report Posted March 3 13 hours ago, Exclus1ve said: These are fantastic pieces, particularly the kashira. I am a sucker for mythological designs such as tengu so I am very jealous!! A little digging turned up another piece with what I think is a closer match to the mei on your set... https://www.legacysw...lio/yoshimori-tsuba/ If I am correct, this mei belongs to the second generation Unno Yoshimori which would make it a Meiji Period piece. The website I linked even has a photo of this Meiji Period artist: Regardless of whether it dates to the first or second generation, I think it's awesome! How did you come across this set? I need to start looking in the same places you are!!! 1 1 Quote
Exclus1ve Posted March 3 Author Report Posted March 3 Thank you for your opinion and information! It’s just a matter of chance)I only wanted to buy Soten Daisho, but when I saw that, I had to buy it. In Russia, such things are very rare. 1 Quote
Jack Zacao Posted March 4 Report Posted March 4 Hi Jake， The picture you found is the great unno shomin, who is the famous nephew of the artist who made this set: https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/海野勝珉 This maker of this set is the Frist Generation master not the one with the same name in Meiji era, who is the second generation(who indeed made the tsuba you found) I found this in the description of my first link provided above : 慶應◆特別保存刀装具 水戸金工【初代海野美盛】秀逸作 四分一磨地 肉合彫 象嵌色絵「樊會図」縁頭 初代 means the first generation again, i make this call based on the Kao being exactly the same 1 Quote
Jake6500 Posted March 4 Report Posted March 4 6 hours ago, Jack Zacao said: Hi Jake， The picture you found is the great unno shomin, who is the famous nephew of the artist who made this set: https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/海野勝珉 This maker of this set is the Frist Generation master not the one with the same name in Meiji era, who is the second generation(who indeed made the tsuba you found) I found this in the description of my first link provided above : 慶應◆特別保存刀装具 水戸金工【初代海野美盛】秀逸作 四分一磨地 肉合彫 象嵌色絵「樊會図」縁頭 初代 means the first generation again, i make this call based on the Kao being exactly the same Ahhh, I see. I just assumed the picture was of Yoshimori 2nd generation as it was on the same page as a 2nd Gen tsuba, but I see now that it is of Shomin. I see what you are saying about the kao being a close match to the 1st generation Yoshimori. I'm not sure it is an exact match as on close inspection (400% zoom) there are what appears to be some tiny differences on the left side such as an additional stroke in the bottom left in your linked example and a small floating stroke top left in Viktor's piece. Coupling these small discrepancies (and they are quite insignificant) with the differences in the mei kanji which seem to more closely match the 2nd gen. example I provided and I'm not sure I could comfortably assert which gen. Yoshimori produced this piece. I think we could definitely assert however, that it was produced by one of the two and is a genuine, high quality piece from the Unno lineage. If it is gimei...Well, it'd be one high quality gimei piece... In any event, I think it's a fantastic set. Here is a side by side with the differences highlighted/circled... I didn't highlight this in the image but having another look, the kao also looks a bit straighter in the example you linked and a bit more curved in Viktor's piece. You can really see this small difference in the loop in the bottom right and the straightness v.s. curvature of the horizontal line that runs through the middle of the kao. 1 1 Quote
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