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Date: |
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Description: | Sword guard, called a tsuba, for a katana (long sword). Made of chiselled iron with gold inlay. Aori gata (saddle flap shaped). Raised relief carving of a dragon (above) fighting a tiger (below) with incised storm clouds and raid. Both hitsu plugged with shakudo (copper alloy) plugs in laid with arabesques in gold.
In Japan the Dragon and the Tiger are both seen as uncontrollable forces of nature: symbols of chaos, storms and upheaval. This tsuba was made just after the time when Western powers were threatening to invade (circa 1853/4) and the Japanese way of life was seen to be in great danger by those who resisted the Western incusion.
The tiger is not very realistic because tigers are not native to Japan and most artists had only seen one in imported Chinese paintings.
Signed.
Technique: chiselling
Technique: inlaying
Material: metal
Material: iron
Material: gold
tsuba made in Japan, Asia, (1918.47/31). | Source: | Manchester City Galleries | Identifier: | mcag.emu.ecatalogue.26429 | Go to resource |
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