Sword guard, iron Kinai school, Echizen, 17th-19th century
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
2022
Guerriers et esthètes, Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire, Strasbourg, 11 March-13 July 2022, p. 167, no. 183. Of kawarigata form, with one kogai and kozuka hitsu ana, the nakago ana with copper sekigane, the gills carved in hirabori and the stem curling around the kogai hitsu ana. Signed Echizen ju KINAI saku [made by Kinai, resident of Echizen].
HEIGHT 7.1 cm, LENGTH 6.9 cm WEIGHT 115.1 g Provenance: Ex-collection Patrick Liebermann. The Kinai school of Echizen (17th-19th century) was possibly a branch of the Myochin family, who were founded by Ishikawa Kinai. Kinai moved from Kyoto to Echizen province and died in 1680. The Kinai school confined itself to pierced relief showing extraordinary cleanness both of design and execution, and the majority of pieces from this school are signed Echizen ju, Kinai saku. Any considerable heightening of gold is found as a rule only in later work.
Museum comparison: Compare a Kinai School iron tsuba of two mushrooms, 19th century, 8.3 cm tall, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, accession number EAX.10507.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Physical characteristics
- Material (listing wording)
- iron
- Dimensions or weight (listing wording)
- HEIGHT 7.1 cm; LENGTH 6.9 cm; WEIGHT 115.1 g; 8.3 cm
Identification
- Source note
- Auction-house description published on Invaluable; the text keeps only the listing's object facts (condition, price and sale wording removed). Attribution and measurements describe the photographed example; independent type authentication remains research required.
- Candidate id
- inv-200793644
- Auction house
- Galerie Zacke
- Listing object ID
- 200793644
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm the wider type, maker and dating against a specialist reference; this entry documents one recorded example.