"Tsuba" with dragon - Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

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“Tsuba” with dragon

Sôshô. 19th century

Japan - Japan

7,9 x 7,5 x 0,6 cm

19th century

82/1054

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

The originality of this tsuba is the way the dragon forms the almost perfect circumference (7.8 x 7.5 cm). Around the two tsuba orifices, the metal has been hammered perfectly, with several pierced openwork parts. There is a virtually illegible small gold seal. A frequent theme in Japanese art, although clearly imported from China, the dragon is a positive feature, being the symbol of strength and power. Used in China as a motif for more than 4,000 years, no animal has accumulated more meanings. It is one of four mythical animals, together with the qilin, the tortoise and the phoenix. This symbolic richness spilled over very early on into Japanese art and occasionally appears as decoration on tsuba. (Fernando García Gutiérrez, 2008)

Selected bibliography

  • Caeiro Izquierdo, Luis. La Cultura Samurai : armas japonesas en las colecciones españolas [tesis inédita]. Madrid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1991.
  • Pereda, Arantxa. La Colección Palacio : arte japonés en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 1998. p. 48, n° cat. 24.
  • 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.
  • Sala Ivars, Marcos Andrés. "Estudio y catalogación de las colecciones públicas de sables japoneses en el País Vasco", Ars Bilduma, n. 11. 2021. p. 75.
  • Arte japonés y japonismo [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 170, 561, 507-509, 511, 513, 515-516, 520, n° cat. 34.
  • Francisco Durrio, 1868-1940 : sobre las huellas de Gauguin [Cat. exp.]. Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2013. p. 124.