Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Round iron tsuba signed 水戸住節愛作 (Mito-jū Tomochika saku), depicting a court headdress pierced in silhouette (kage-sukashi) with fine lines of ito-sukashi.
Marugata iron tsuba signed on the obverse 水戸住節愛作 (Mito-jū Tomochika saku), the work of Tomochika, a craftsman of the Sugiyama family active in Mito according to the original seller. The motif, which the original seller identifies as a suieikan court headdress with its cord, is rendered in kage-sukashi (silhouette piercing): the seppa-dai interrupts part of the design, and the cord winds around the plate in extremely fine lines of ito-sukashi ending in two pierced tassels. The photographs show carefully worked iron with a tsuchime surface, clean walls to the openings and a square mimi with slight rounding. The patina is dark and even, with no visible active rust; the central opening retains small copper sekigane. The tsuba has no hitsu-ana for kozuka or kōgai. It measures 8.22 × 8.08 cm, with a thickness of about 0.40 cm. The original seller dates it to the late Edo period and declares an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu paper, which does not appear in the photographs.
Strong points
- Legible signature 水戸住節愛作 (Mito-jū Tomochika saku) on the obverse
- Original kage-sukashi composition with restrained curving lines
- Fine, even ito-sukashi
- Tsuchime iron with a dark, stable patina
Points to bear in mind
- The Tokubetsu Hozon paper declared by the original seller does not appear in the photographs
- Copper sekigane in the central opening
- The identification of the motif comes from the original seller
Score
60.2 / 100
- Maker 19 of 25 Genuine signature of a known maker or school
- Workmanship 10 of 20 Good 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 8.2 of 10 Rank 61 of 330 by price among pieces of its type, from the most affordable to the dearest
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.
Details
- Type
- Tsuba
- Maker
- Tomochika
- Period
- Late Edo (1781–1868)
- Material
- Iron
- Paper
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu
- Signature
- Signed
- School
- Mito
- Inscription
- 水戸住節愛作 (Mito-jū Tomochika saku)
- Technique
- Sukashi (openwork)
- Dating
- Late Edo period (18th–19th century)