NH-0658 Rank 51
Tsuba · Ichiyōsai Hironao
一葉斎弘直 (Ichiyōsai Hironao)
Iron tsuba signed by Ichiyōsai Hironao, showing the poet Li Bai on horseback in sukidashi takabori with gold accents; NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper.
Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
Description
Iron tsuba of upright oval shape (tate-marugata), signed on either side of the central opening: 一葉斎 (Ichiyōsai) on one side and 弘直 (Hironao) with his kaō on the other. According to the original seller, Ichiyōsai Hironao was a pupil of Uchikoshi Hirotoshi and worked in Mito, Hitachi province, in the late Edo period. The front depicts the poet Li Bai, 李白 (Rihaku), on horseback beneath a pine, carved in high relief from the iron itself (sukidashi takabori) with inlaid gold details; the pine is engraved in line. The back shows distant mountains, a shoreline and a rock with gold bamboo. The ground is polished iron and the slightly raised rim is sukinokoshi-mimi. The photographs show a dark, stable patina with no visible active rust, and the hitsu-ana closed with a metal plug. The NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper, no. 2006439 dated 10 March 2020, describes the piece as 李白図鐔 (Rihaku-zu tsuba) and accepts the signature. Dimensions given by the original seller: 7.5 × 6.9 cm, 0.5 cm thick at the seppa-dai.
Strong points
- Signature 一葉斎弘直 (Ichiyōsai Hironao) with kaō, accepted by the paper
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper (2020)
- Li Bai on horseback in sukidashi takabori with gold accents
- Polished iron with sukinokoshi-mimi rim and a restrained composition
Points to bear in mind
- The hitsu-ana is closed with a metal plug.
- The late Edo dating comes from the original seller and from style; the paper does not date the piece.
Score breakdown
64.3/100
The score shares out 100 points: Maker 25 · Workmanship 20 · Condition 18 · Period 12 · Paper 10 · Extras 5 · Price 10. It is computed from the record, not from an opinion. Maker, workmanship, condition and period are judged from the photographs and the paper; price is compared only with fittings of the same type.
- Maker 19 of 25 Genuine signature of a known maker or school
- Workmanship 15 of 20 Notable work
- Condition 14 of 18 Good condition
- Period 5 of 12 Late Edo (1781–1868)
- Paper 4 of 10 NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu
- Extras 0 of 5 No complete set by the same maker and no inscribed box
- Price 7.3 of 10 Rank 62 of 228 by price among pieces of its type, from the most affordable to the dearest