Tsuba with Autumn Flora and Insects

Description This tsuba has a raised rim decorated with a crawling spider, maple leaf and cherry blossom. The body of the tsuba has pampas grass on the left and chrysanthemums on the right. Along the bottom is a grasshopper. Two crickets are in the pampas grass at the upper left. This tsuba is one of a pair with Walters 51.391 and had a matching lacquer box.

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

Inscriptions [Transcription] 越前府住　春田廣次; [Transliteration] Echizen fu jû/Haruta Hirotsugu; [Translation] Residing in Echizen (province)/Haruta Hirotsugu

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters