Five kozuka


Edo period (1615-1868), 19th centuryThree of the Goto school, the first of shibuichi, carved with rolling waves and gilt rocks, signed Goto Junjo with a kao; the second of shakudo nanako, inlaid with Chokwaro Sennin and his magic horse in iroe-takazogan, signed Goto Mitsutaka with a kao, third of shakudo nanako inlaid with three quails among wild flowers and autumn grasses, signed Koju (Mitsutoshi) with a kao; the fourth of shakudo nanako, with inlaid autumn grasses including obana (pampas grass), kuzu (kudzu vine), nadeshiko (pink), ominaeshi (valerian), fujibakama (thoroughwort), kikyo (Chinese bellflower), signed Suifu Ichiyoken Toshiharu; the fifth of shakudo nanako, inlaid with Ii no Hayata and Minamoto no Yorimasa slaying the nue, unsigned; with four inscribed wood storage boxes. (9).
|ProvenanceThe fourth: G. H. Naunton Collection, no.1834.The first four: Lundgren Collection, nos.53, 54, 232, 305, respectively.The first four: Purchased at Christie's London, 18 November 1997, lots 222, 224, and 261, respectively.PublishedThe fourth: Henri L. Joly, Japanese Sword Fittings, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of G. H. Naunton, Reading, Tokio Printing Co., 1912, no.1834.