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WATAI TANETORA: A SUPERB MITO SCHOOL IRON TSUBA DEPICTING SO FUKO AND DRAGON, DATED 1866
Lot 75 - JPN1225
By Watai Tanetora, signed Mito Watai Tanetora saku
Japan, dated 1866, Edo period (1615-1868)
Published: Günther Heckmann, Tsuba, H.U.B Verlag, Nürtingen, 1995, T 115.
Of nagamarugata form, with one kogai hitsu ana, the nakago with a copper sekigane, masterfully worked in takabori and shishiaibori, with details in gold and iro-e takazogan, featuring So Fuko (Cao Buxing) painting a dragon which is so realistic it emerges from the silk. One side inscribed, Keio nen hineo no tora aki kishin [on a lucky day in autumn in the second year of the Kineo reign (1866), year of the fire tiger], the reverse signed Mihan WATAI TANETORA saku [made by Watai Tanetora of Mito].
HEIGHT 8.2 cm, LENGTH 7.9 cm
WEIGHT 191.2 g
Provenance: Ex-collecton H. Saenger, Hamburg.
Condition: Excellent condition with only minor expected wear.
Cao Buxing (So Fuko) was a court painter to Sun Quan, the ruler of the state of Wu. He was famous for painting dragons, animals, and figures. According to legend, one of his painted dragons came alive, rising from the silk and soaring into a lake.
Tanetora is listed in Robert E. Haynes, The Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists on p.1882 (H 09458.0). Haynes notes that there are supposedly two generations of Tanetora.
Museum comparison:
Compare a related Mito School iron tsuba with a dragon, signed and dated by Watai Tanetora, 1865, 6.9 cm tall, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 11.11925.
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