Sahkudo and gilding. Japan, 19th century
Inlaid gilt shakudo kozuka bearing a nanako ground, slightly raise rim and decorated with a dash of humor in iro-e takazogan with a black boar running and a smaller one in gilt nunome moving against the adult. The boar inoshishi is among the animals of the zodiac and a symbol of courage.
LENGTH 9,65 CM
From the collection of Dr. Karl Florenz (1865-1939)
Dr. Karl Florenz was a renowned scholar, university professor and considered a pioneer of German Japanese studies. He resided in Japan from 1888 until the beginning of the First World War and then continued his lectures at the Hamburg Colonial Institute, never returning 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 dating to the 18th cent. and quite evidently made an effort to explore a wide range of motifs.