Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Tsuba with Scene of Celebrating the Tanabata Festival
(Japanese Military Armor)
Four dancers are depicted on this tsuba. Above them hang bamboo branches with poems on slips of paper. These poems are part of the celebration of Tanabata. The festival celebrates the yearly reunion between the Weaving Maiden (Jp. "Orihime") and the Shepard (Jp. "Hikoboshi"), known in the West as the starts Vega and Altair. On the front of the tsuba, two dancers appear at the right. A third is at the lower left. The fourth dancer is on the back.
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, Kyoto (Place of Origin)
Measurements
2 13/16 x 2 11/16 x 1/4 in. (7.16 x 6.83 x 0.56 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.
51.237