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Square “tsuba” with monkey and crab
Natsuo, Kanô. 19th century
Japan-Japan
8,3 x 7,7 x 1 cm
Kuken
19th century
82/1026
Donación de doña María de Arechavaleta, de la colección de don José Palacio
An almost square brass tsuba with decoration in high relief. The obverse shows a monkey hanging from a tree; the tree continues on the reverse side, underneath which is a crab. The signature is "Koken". As no artist of that name was working in metals at the time, professor Torralba suggests that it may in fact refer to the painter Koken (1835-1883), whose work was very influential then, and that his signature figures on the tsuba because it copied one of his paintings. (Fernando García Gutiérrez, 2008)
Selected bibliography
- Arte japonés y japonismo [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 182, 507, 509-511, 515-516, 520, 523, 525, 541, n° cat. 45.
- Caeiro Izquierdo, Luis. La Cultura Samurai : armas japonesas en las colecciones españolas [tesis inédita]. Madrid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1991.
- 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 Yvars, Marcos Andrés. "Meiji : revolución y renovación en las artes del tosogu", Meiji : el nacimiento del Japón universal (Cadiz, 2019) . pp. 46-47, il.
- Sala Ivars, Marcos Andrés. "Estudio y catalogación de las colecciones públicas de sables japoneses en el País Vasco", Ars Bilduma, n. 11. 2021. pp. 74-75, il.