Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Sword Guard (Tsuba) is circular and made of copper. The object has a black rim around its edge. It has an elongated triangular cutout in the center, with two oval cutouts on either side. The top half features a design resembling tree branches with small gold dots. The bottom half depicts a scene with a person wearing a hat and a robe, sitting on a branch, accompanied by trees with sparse gold leaves on the left. The person and trees are rendered in black and gold. The background of the image is white.

Artwork details

Date:
late 18th century
Medium:
Copper, gold, copper-gold alloy (shakudō)
Culture:
Japanese
Dimensions:
600 × 600 px
Museum record:
View original
Palette