Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The object is a circular, dark brown metal piece with a weathered appearance. It has a central elongated oval-shaped hole and two smaller oval-shaped holes on either side. The surface features several etched designs, including a wavy line at the top, resembling a mountain, and other abstract patterns scattered around the piece. There are also small gold flecks visible on the surface. The background of the image is white. The title of the piece is Sword Guard (Tsuba) and it is by an unnamed artist.

Artwork details

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