"A stately tsuba with a scroll titled 'Qizheng'. It is built in a Go stone shape with slightly thinner edge than the face, and the surface has a varied expression of the stone style, which is one of the charms of this tsuba. The black iron of the ground has a profound feeling, and the jet-black (shakudo) scrolls that are scattered copper and bronze high carvings with gold and silver paintings, emerges on the stone faces.
This design comes from a tsuba by Kaneiye now in the Okayama City Museum. It belonged to the Ikeda family of Okayama and later to Mr. Hayashibara, chief clerk of the family. R. Haynes saw it in 1960 and today we have a early (1650) Saga Kaneiye tsuba in the collection with the same design, not signed. The scroll in our tsuba reads 'Huang-shih Kung', 'The Kosekiko Sennin'. These two tsuba with this design seem to be the only examples known.
Itoga is a family name, no examples with the individual artist name seem to be recorded." (Haynes & Long)
Length: 7.97cm x 7.97cm x 0.45cm |
