Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Tsuba with Enshi (Ch. Yen Tzu), One of the Twenty Four Paragons of Filial Piety
(Japanese Military Armor)
This tsuba depicts Enshi (Ch. Yen Tzu), one of the twenty four paragons of filial piety from the Chinese Zhou [Chou] Dynasty (1122-255 BC). Enshi's parents had a eye ailment that could only be cured by deer's milk. His family was too poor to buy the expensive milk, so Enshi disguised himself like a deer in order to get milk directly from does in the herd near his home. The tsuba depicts two hunters on the right who almost kill Enshi because they think he really is a deer. Enshi is on the left, wearing a deer skin.
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 acquistion unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
Japan, Tokyo (Edo) (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 2 13/16 x W: 2 5/8 x D: 3/16 in. (7.16 x 6.74 x 0.43 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.
51.305