Oval "tsuba" with monk - Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

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Oval “tsuba” with monk

Anonymous, japanese. 19th century

Encrustation

5,6 x 4,4 x 0,7 cm

19th century

82/987

Donación de doña María de Arechavaleta, de la colección de don José Palacio

This smaller oval-shaped brass tsuba with copper and gold inlays is highly original. The theme of the upper part is zen, the monks Kanzan and Shin-te, in a number of activities. Very popular with this Buddhist sect, the pair point up the possibility of uniting intellectual and manual work. Once again, this tsuba would seem to be more a collector¿s item than for use in a sword. (Fernando García Gutiérrez, 2008)

Selected bibliography

Francisco Durrio, 1868-1940 : sobre las huellas de Gauguin [Cat. exp.]. Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2013. p. 125.
Arte japonés y japonismo [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 174, 508, 511, 515-517, 520, 523, 525, 541, 557, n° cat. 38.
García Gutiérrez, Fernando. "Tsuba : Japoniako zaldunen ezaugarri bat. Tsuba bilduma Bilboko Arte Eder Museoan = Un signo distintivo de los caballeros de Japón. Colección de tsuba en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao = The Mark of the Kinghts of Japan. The Tsuba Collection at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum", B'07 : Buletina = Boletín = Bulletin, n° 3. 2008. pp. 101-159.
Caeiro Izquierdo, Luis. La Cultura Samurai : armas japonesas en las colecciones españolas [tesis inédita]. Madrid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1991.