Was die Hand hielt
Two Shishi, Kyo-Kinko
Two Kyo-kinko menuki, carved in the round from solid gold. On each, two shishi are locked together, so close that it takes a moment to count the heads. The paper calls the subject nihiki shishi, two shishi, the work katachi-bori and the ground kin-muku, gold all the way through. The manes curl tight. The paws are set wide, as if the animals had just landed.
Menuki sit on the grip, beneath the binding and beneath the hand. In use they were felt more than seen. These two come from the hilt of a wakizashi by Tsunahiro of the Soshu school. Its silk binding had perished, and the hilt has since been restored. The menuki now stand on their own.
The NBTHK attributes them to Kyo-kinko, the metalworkers of the capital. There is no signature and no workshop name. What the paper fixes is a place, not a person.
Menuki. Mumei, Kyo-Kinko. Kin-muku-ji, katachi-bori. Nihiki shishi no zu. Frühe Edo-Zeit. NBTHK Hozon. Ehemals an einer Wakizashi von Tsunahiro. Privatsammlung, erworben in Europa, zuvor in einer europäischen Sammlung.
In the collection
- Type
- Tosogu › Menuki
- School
- Kyo-Kinko
- Period
- Edo-Zeit › Frühe Edo-Zeit
- Material
- Kin
- Motif
- Drachen und Fabelwesen
