Tsuba with Blossoming Magnolia with Sparrows

Description A magnolia, associated with spring, blooms on the right hand side of this tsuba. Two sparrows appear. One is in flight at the lower left and one is perched in the magnolia tree. On the reverse, another magnolia tree is shown at the left with a sparrow flying above it. A stream is shown on the right. The hole for the utility knife have been plugged.

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

Inscriptions [Date] 安政乙卯仲冬; [Transliteration] Ansei ki-no-to u chûtô; [Translation] Ansei [era], year of the rabbit (1855), mid winter; [Signature] 篠山大隅篤興造; [Transliteration] Sasayama Ôsumi Tokuoki zô; [Translation] made by Sasayama Ôsumi Tokuoki

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters