Beschreibung:

24 TSUBA (HAND GUARDS)Edo period (1615-1868), 17th to 19th century The first 17 all iron; the first circular, katchushi type, pierce-cut with two small gourds; the second oval, chiselled with Amida yasuri (radial striations) and inlaid in copper alloys and gold with a bamboo plant; the third circular, inlaid in copper with a tsuridono (fishing pavilion) at the end of a jetty; the fourth rounded square, with three fanged fish in positive silhouette; the fifth nearly circular, chiselled and pierced with two hollyhock leaves, signed Echizen no ju Kinai saku; the sixth roughly circular with a hammered-up surface, chiselled and inlaid in gold with floating cherry blossoms and a mountain; the seventh diamond-shaped, with two stylised piercings; the eighth roughly circular, Yagyu type, pierced as a 12-spoked wheel; the ninth roughly circular, the degraded surface overlaid in nunome technique with gold flowers and tendrils; the tenth roughly circular, the surface chiselled with numerous Amida yasuri; the eleventh rounded rectangular, small, undecorated, with ryohitsu; the twelfth pierced and chiselled as six stylised pine trees; the thirteenth rounded rectangular, roughly chiselled and inlaid with a landscape and plants; the fourteenth oval, with a silver rim, signed Kunihiro; the fifteenth oval, chiselled and inlaid in silver and gold with a Chinese scholar in a landscape (the face missing); the sixteenth roughly circular with hammered-up surface and radial lines in gold nunome overlay around the perimeter; the seventeenth mokko (four-lobed), with a gilt-metal rim, stamped with star motifs; the eighteenth rounded rectangular, copper, chiselled and inlaid in gold and copper alloy with aubergines; the nineteenth octagonal, copper, with a 16-petal chrysanthemum motif on each side; the twentieth mokko, silvered copper alloy, chiselled with peach fruit and blossom; the twenty-first roughly circular, yamagane, pierced as a 16-spoked wheel; the twenty-second rounded square, copper, hammered up and pierced; the twenty-third mokko, copper alloy, plain; the twenty-fourth roughly circular, brass, the surfaced textured, chiselled and inlaid in relief with a dragon and tiger, signed Ikkansai. The smallest: 5.7cm (2¼in) high; the largest: 8.7cm (3 7/16in) high. (24).