Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Tsuba with Monkeys
(Japanese Military Armor)
On the right side of this tsuba are four monkeys grooming each other. An adult holds a young monkey at the rear of the grouping. In the front, another young monkey hangs upside down from the arm of the second adult. The reverse shows an overhanging rock on the right with a stream along the bottom. As in the west, monkeys were often anthropomorphized in Japanese legends and art.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
Japan, Tokyo (Edo) (Place of Origin)
Measurements
3 1/16 x 2 15/16 x 3/16 in. (7.84 x 7.41 x 0.48 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
51.297