Tsuba with Roundels Depicting Dragons

Description This tsuba is decorated with roundels depicting dragons. The front contains two partial roundels, while the back has one full and two partial roundels. The roundels are Chinese in styling and reminiscent of Chinese bureaucratic rank badges. The artist seal is prominent on the front. The metal of the tsuba has an unusual surface with an appearance similar to wood grain. One of the secondary holes has been plugged.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Seal] On cenor: 大月; [Translation] Ôtsuki; [Seal] On round: 光弘; [Translation] Mitsuhiro [Inscription] 應需安親圖　彫鐫; [Transliteration] Ôju Yasuchika no zu/chosen; [Translation] Engraved by special request after a design by Yasuchika

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters