Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dark brown circular metal object with a weathered appearance. The object has a large central triangular cutout, with a smaller oval cutout to the left and two smaller rounded shapes below. A butterfly or flower shape cutout is on the lower right. There are also several lines of raised Japanese characters on the surface.

Artwork Details

Date
ca. 1615–1868
Medium
Iron, copper
Culture
Japanese
Dimensions
600 × 600 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette