Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dark brown circular metal object with a weathered appearance. The object has a large oval hole on the left side and a long narrow vase-like shape in the middle with brown corrosion at the top. To the right and bottom of the vase are several white cut-out shapes resembling leaves and flowers. The leaves are teardrop shaped with a line down the middle and there are 7 of them. There are 4 flower shapes cut out to the right of the vase, one large and three small, with the large one being flower-shaped and the small ones being circular with a flower-shaped edge. The background behind the object is light gray. The object is a Sword Guard (Tsuba) by an unknown artist.