Edo period (1615-1868)

Copper nademarugata tsuba, with one kozuka hitsu ana. The tsuba has an ishimeji ground, finely worked in gold, silver, and shakudo takazogan and shishiaibori to depict a poetic scene of a fisherman at shore holding a jar and looking up at a flock of geese flying below the moon.
The reverse shows a river emerging from rockwork and leading into a lake. The mimi (rim) incised with fine lines reminiscent of bark.
Sealed to the back YASUCHIKA in gold hirazogan within a square reserve.
The nakago ana has some shakudo sekigane.

Maker
Lineage of Tsuchiya Yasuchika, sealed Yasuchika Japan, second half of the 18th century. The artist was a member of the Tsuchiya Yasuchika lineage of smiths which extends back to the 17th century. The Haynes Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists records seven smiths belonging to this lineage with this same signature, p. 2188.

Published
Günther Heckmann, Tsuba, H.U.B Verlag, Nürtingen, 1995, T 81.

HEIGHT 6.3 cm, LENGTH 5.8 cm WEIGHT 90 g

Provenance
From an old German private collection.

Museum comparison
A shakudo and shibuichi tsuba of a fisherman and cuckoo, signed Yasuchika, 19th century, 5.4 cm tall, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, accession number EAX.10951.