Four various tsuba


Edo period (1615-1868), early to mid-19th centuryThree of shakudo, the first bearing a nanako ground, inlaid with scattered cherry blossom in gilt-metal and silver relief, signed Akiyoshi with a kao; the second also of shakudo nanako with roped silver mimi (rim), inlaid in iroe-takazogan with a scholar reading in a hut beside a stream, a crescent moon in the sky, signed Nagatoshi; the third of shakudo ishime, carved in relief with cranes flying past a pine tree, details in slightly gilt-metal, signed and dated Kyowa gan kanoto-tori junigatsu Kuwabata uji Masayoshi horu (carved by Kuwabata Masayoshi in the twelfth month of 1801); the fourth of iron, Hizen style, carved in the manner of Mitsuhiro with numerous monkeys, unsigned; each with a wood storage box. The first: 7.2cm (2 7/8in); the second: 7.2cm (2 7/8in); the third: 7cm (2¾in); the fourth: 7.2cm (2 7/8in). (8).