Artwork preview

Sword Guard (Tsuba)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Round metal object with a central oval-shaped hole. Dark brown metal with gold accents. Two birds, one at the top and one at the bottom, surrounded by leaves and circular patterns. The birds are facing each other. The top bird has a sunflower-like object next to it. The background of the object is a dark brown circle with gold accents along the edge.

Artwork Details

Date
18th century
Medium
Iron; gold, silver (nunome-zōgan); copper
Culture
Japanese
Dimensions
600 × 600 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette