Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sword Guard (Tsuba) by Goto Ichijo. Dark brown metal sword guard with rounded square shape and slightly wavy edges. Central oval-shaped opening with a teardrop-shaped cutout in the middle. A small circular hole on the left side. Decorated with a pattern of butterflies and leaves covering entire surface. The butterflies have detailed bodies and wings with visible veins. The background of the image is plain white.

Artwork Details

Date
ca. 1830–1860
Medium
Iron, copper-gold alloy (shakudō)
Culture
Japanese
Dimensions
600 × 600 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette