Important Japanese Swords and Armour from the Paul L. Davidson Collection
Important Japanese Swords and Armour from the Paul L. Davidson Collection
Lot closes
03:14:36
•
March 25, 03:38 PM GMT
Estimate
18,000 - 25,000 USD
Starting Bid
18,000 USD
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
A katana
Signed Bizen no Suke Fujiwara Munetsugu (Koyama Munetsugu, 1803-1872)
Edo period, dated Keioi ninen nigatsu hi (a day in the 2nd month 1866)
Sugata [configuration]: shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, tori zori, chu-kissaki
Kitae [forging pattern]: tight mokume hada
Hamon [tempering pattern]: choji hamon with wide nioiguchi
Boshi [tip]: gunome with ko-maru boshi and turnback
Nakago [tang]: kengyo, single mekugi-ana
Habaki [collar]: double clad, copper-gilt
In shirasaya [plain wood scabbard]
Koshirae [mount]: the black lacquer saya carved and decorated in ginpun with stylised peonies and karakusa, copper-gilt and nanako shakudo fuchi-kashira, inlaid with shishi among peonies in gilt, the silver and gilt menuki in the form of peony sprays, the circular iron tsuba inlaid in gold a shishi cub scaling a cliff among further peonies, the reverse with further peonies among rockwork
Nagasa [length from kissaki to machi]: 74.5 cm., 29⅜ in.
Saki-haba [width at the yokote]: 2.4 cm., ⅞ in.
Moto-haba [width at the machi]: 3.2 cm. 1¼ in.
Accompanied by a certificate of registration as Tokubetsu Hozon Token [Sword Especially Worthy of Preservation], no. 145046 issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword], dated Heise 11 (1999).
Further accompanied by an earlier certificate of registration as Tokubetsu Kicho Token [Especially Precious Sword], no. 259099 issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword], dated Showa 47 (1972).
Art of the Samurai: The Paul L. Davidson Collection (New York, 2023), p. 57.
Koyama Munetsugu was born in Shirakawa, Mutsu Province. He served as the retainer of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira daimyo family. He moved to Kuwana in Ise Province around 1829, and later relocated to Edo where he studied with Kato Tsunahide. He received the title 'Bizen no suke' In 1845. After Meiji Restoration in 1868, he worked in Tokyo as a gunsmith. Munetsugu is best known for his Bizen-style clove-like tempering pattern (choji hamon) in nioi, and finely packed wood burl (mokume) grain in the forging.
