A Tadatsugu tsuba?

[andreYes]

Thank you all for help in my previous topic!

 

I'd like to ask your opinion about another tsuba from the collection of Skip Holbrook.

 

Mr. Holbrook's description puzzled me again : “Umetada, signed Tadatsugu, plum & mum flower, Momoyama”.

As I know, the artist(s) Tadatsugu of Umetada family worked in 1675 - 1725, that is nearly the middle of Edo era. On the other hand, the design of this tsuba is one of the classical themes of Umetada Tadatsugu.

So, was it really made during Momoyama? Or it is not Umetada Tadatsugu?

 

I searched for any tsubako who signed with nijimei "Tadatsugu" and worked during Momoyama, but found only one tsuba: a tosho tsuba in Sotheby's catalogue of Bradford collection. The photo there is too small to compare the signature, but the design is quite different from my point of view...

 

Any comments and thoughts are much appreciated!

[docliss]

Andrey, for what it may be worth, in my opinion the work looks looks spot on for that of Umetada Tadatsugu (and the nijimei also looks pretty good to me). So we must assume that Skip made an error re the artist' dates ....

John L.

[Soshin]

I would agree the tsuba looks be be classic example of work done by Umetada (埋忠) Tadatsugu (忠次) singed with a nijimei. The date I but on this work is from circa 1675 - 1725 CE. Which is during the middle Edo Period contemporary with the masters Umetada Shigenaga and Umetada Muneyuki. Thanks for sharing photos and starting the discussion.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David S.

[andreYes]

John, David,

Thank you for your help!

 

By the way, here is a signed tsuba, and it seems to me that the mei is also Tadatsugu. Am I right?

[Soshin]

Looking at the other tsuba I would say that it is also signed Tadatsugu in a similar manner as your original tsuba. I have been told that Tadatsugu was a very prolific artisan during the middle Edo period. He might have also had some students under him allowed to use his name. The linked tsuba has a more simpler tosho feel to it but I would still classify it as a Umetada school tsuba. The overall shape of the tsuba is also characteristic of Umetada school and not at all Tosho. Blossoms and kamon are a common motif found in tsuba made by the Umetada school. I have a middle Edo period Umetada tsuba that also has a nice Kamon motif over a nice tsuchimei-ji with maru-bori carved clouds.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David S.

[JohnTo]

For comparison I've attached a photo of a Tadatsugu tsuba in my collection, which I hope you will find useful.

 

Description: An iron katchushi (armouror’s) tsuba in circular form with a shakudo mimi, the plate pierced on one side with a kirimon (paulonia badge). Signed Tadatsugu and accompanied by a NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho paper dated Showa 43 (1968). This may be the Tadatsugu of the Umetada school in Yamashiro who died in the first month of Empo (1678).

 

Purchased from Sotherby’s, London, 30 March 1994, Lot14 as Part of the R.B.Caldwell Collection.

 

Height: 7.0 cm

Width: 6.8 cm

Thickness: 0.5 cm

 

John

[docliss]

John’s tsuba is typical of the work produced by a number of Umetada artists who signed their work with the nijimei Tadatsugu. Some of these may have been of different generations – and some students – of the original artist of this name. Haynes gives the dates of this group of artists as 1675–1725, and I believe that Nihon Tō Kōza is in error on p.302, as is John, when they state that there was a single artist who ‘died in the first month of Enpō (1678)'.

 

John L.

[andreYes]

Thank you, John, for posting. Very nice tsuba!

 

John L.,

maybe, the Tadatsugu, mentioned in Nihon Tō Kōza on p.302, is the Shoami Tadatsugu (H 09188.0 in Haynes Index)?

Could the John's tsuba also be made not by Umetada Tadatsugu, but by Shoami Tadatsugu? What is written in the NBTHK paper?

[docliss]

Andrey

 

1. The Tadatsugu named on p.302 of Nihon Tō Kōza definitely relates to the artist of that name ‘of the UMETADA Kei’.

2. John’s tsuba is characteristic of the work of Umetada Tadatsugu, and its mei is also that of the Umetada artist, as illustrated on pp.223a and b of Kinkō Meikan.

3. It would indeed be interesting to know what is written on the NBTHK paper but that we can, I am sure, confidently predict….

 

John L.

[andreYes]

Yes, you are right, John.

By the way, I've found an example of Shoami Tadatsugu tsuba on Boston Museum site - absolutely different design...

[Soshin]

Thanks John B. for providing a good example and restarting this thread as I am a collector of the Umetada school. Kamon were a common design motif for the Umetada school either as sukashi or inlay and I own a good example that is done with brass inlays. Here is a link http://kodogunosekai.com/2009/12/05/umetada-sukashi-tsuba/ to a Kodogu no Sekai Blog showing a very similar tsuba to the original tsuba that started the thread. The author of the Blog Richard Turner cites as the maker of the tsuba in the Blog as Umetada Tadatsugu.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David S.