Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The image features a sword guard, tsuba, with an oval shape and rounded edges. The tsuba is primarily gold-colored with a textured surface, comprising small dots arranged in concentric circles. A large, elongated oval-shaped hole is present on the left side, while a narrower, similarly shaped hole with a wavy edge runs vertically through the center. The central hole has a copper-colored section at the top and bottom. On the left side of the central hole, there are two lines of Japanese characters. The right side of the tsuba features a design of three flowers with five petals each, accompanied by two leaves. The background of the image is plain white.

Artwork Details

Date
ca. 1615–1868
Medium
Copper alloy (sentoku), silver, copper
Culture
Japanese
Dimensions
600 × 600 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette