Iron, gold etc. Japan, 19th cent.
The form Mokkogata with both Hitsu, the depiction in partly deep, partly high relief with iroezogan. On the dark brown iron a Chinese wise man is presented, sitting in a boat and gazing at a mountain peak with a temple. Details are inlaid with copper as well as gilding with nunome and golden tenzogan. On the reverse are only water and bamboo.
HEIGHT 7,6 CM
From the collection of Dr. Karl Florenz (1865-1939)
Dr. Karl Florenz was a renowned scholar, university professor and regarded as a pioneer of German Japanese studies. He resided in Japan from 1888 until the beginning of the First World War, then continued his lectures at the Hamburg Colonial Institute, never to return to Japan again. Famed for having translated several important Japanese books including the Nihongi, Japan’s oldest official history text, he was awarded the Japanese doctor title in literature. His extensive collection was largely destroyed by air strikes in the Second World War (which he himself did not live to witness), however, most tsuba etc. survived in relatively good condition. Dr. Florenz primarily collected tsubas, most of which are from the 18th cent. and quite evidently made an effort to explore a wide range of motifs.