Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The image depicts a dark brown, circular metal object with a smooth surface. The object, a Sword Guard (Tsuba) by an unknown artist, has a large central hole with a teardrop-shaped cutout and two oval-shaped cutouts on either side. The surface features raised designs, including a figure on the right side, flowers and leaves around the top edge, and other designs on the left and bottom. The object has a dark brown patina with areas of lighter brown and rust-colored spots. The background is a plain white surface. An orange number "91.1827" is written vertically on the right side of the object.