Sword guard, Tenkodo Hidekuni, Japan, 1825-1891
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1825-1891
One side is worked in shibuichi, richly inlaid in silver, shakudo, and gold takazogan, and finely detailed in katakiribori to depict a bat beneath a full moon. The reverse is executed on a suaka migakiji ground, further inlaid in shakudo with a bat flying below scrolling clouds. The contrasting metals and treatments evoke the same motif at dusk and at dawn, a subtle and poetic interplay of time and atmosphere.
Signed TENKODO HIDEKUNI. HEIGHT 8 cm, LENGTH 7.7 cm, 2.6 cm (the nakago), WIDTH 0.3 cm (the mimi). With a wood tomobako (storage box). Tenkodo Hidekuni (1825-1891) is recorded in the Haynes Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists, p. 242 (H 01054.0). Active in Kyoto, he was the student and adopted son of Kawarabayashi Hideoki. He was granted the art name Tenkodo by Emperor Komei and was also renowned as a painter, a quality reflected in the pictorial sensibility of the present work.
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)
- shibuichi, silver, shakudo, gold, suaka migakiji
- Dimensions or weight (listing wording)
- HEIGHT 8 cm; LENGTH 7.7 cm; 2.6 cm; WIDTH 0.3 cm; 0.3 cm; WEIGHT 120.6 g
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-204134475
- Auction house
- Galerie Zacke
- Listing object ID
- 204134475
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.