Tsuba with Grapevine and Squirrels

Description Grapevines hang down from the top of this tsuba. Over the plugged hole for the hair pick, a squirrel is perched on the vine. At the bottom of the tsuba is another squirrel. On the reverse, another squirrel looks up at the grapevines.

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

Inscriptions [Signature] 江戸住　斎藤富隨; [Transliteration] Edo ju/Saito Tomiyuki; [Translation] Living in Edo/Saito Tomiyuki

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters