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Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Tsuba by an unknown artist is a circular sword guard made of dark brown metal with a textured surface. The guard features three holes: a large, teardrop-shaped hole in the center; a smaller, rounded rectangular hole to the left; and a smaller, irregularly shaped hole to the right. The guard has a small circular indentation at the top. There are gold inlays on the right side and top, forming a design resembling a plant or leaves. The background of the image is plain white.

Artwork Details

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