Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dark brown circular sword guard with a central elongated teardrop-shaped hole and a smaller, rounded heart-shaped hole at the bottom. The guard features gold-colored designs. A gold design resembling a bird or mythical creature with outstretched wings flying towards the right is seen at the bottom right. On the top left and right are gold cloud-like designs. The background of the object has a weathered appearance with visible scratches and marks. The background behind the sword guard is plain white. Sword Guard (Tsuba) by Unknown.

Artwork details

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