Tsuba · Ko-Kinkō

Description

A tate-maru-gata (upright oval) tsuba, unsigned (mumei), attributed by its NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper to the Ko-Kinkō school, the early soft-metal craftsmen who preceded the great flowering of Edo-period kinkō work. The subject is Tatsutagawa: the Tatsuta River carrying maple leaves on its current, an autumn motif celebrated since the Heian period in Ariwara no Narihira's famous poem "chihayaburu kamiyo mo kikazu Tatsutagawa…". According to the paper, the plate is shakudō of sanmai (three-layer) construction, worked in sukidashibori with iroe and a sukinokoshi-mimi rim. The photographs show a ground of waves cut in very fine parallel lines (kebori) with curling crests, over which gold maple leaves and petals drift, their serrated edges and veins crisply defined. The patina is deep, even black; the gold keeps its lustre with a few small dark spots, and the rim looks clean. On the reverse, beside one hitsu-ana, a reddish tone shows the copper core of the sanmai. Dimensions stated by the original seller: 67.3 × 61.7 mm, 4.5 mm thick, 117 g. It comes with its paulownia box bearing a hakogaki signed Kanzan, praising the quality of the work.