Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Square metal object with rounded corners. The object is made of brown metal with a slightly textured surface. There are two oval-shaped holes in the center, one larger than the other. The larger hole is shaped like a rounded triangle with the base facing down. There is a raised design on the top right featuring a bird in flight with black body and gold accents on wings, beak is gold. On the bottom left, there is a raised design featuring a tree with black trunk and branches and gold accents. There are Japanese characters etched into the metal on the left side of the larger hole.

Artwork Details

Date
1786–1859
Medium
Copper alloy (bronze), copper-gold alloy (shakudō), gold, silver, copper
Culture
Japanese
Dimensions
600 × 600 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette