Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dark brown circular metal object. The object is a sword guard, tsuba. It has a large hole in the center which is roughly shaped like an elongated teardrop; a smaller teardrop shaped hole to the left. A design on the right shows a man in a robe holding a cane. The man stands on the bottom right. A tree branch with blossoms is on the upper right. Small yellow flowers are scattered on the bottom. The background of the image is gray.

Artwork details

Date:
ca. 1615–1868
Medium:
Iron, copper
Culture:
Japanese
Dimensions:
600 × 600 px
Museum record:
View original
Palette