Shakudo, silver and gilding. Japan, 19th century
Kozuka in the Goto style bearing a nanako ground inlaid with three rabbits, two of them in gilt takozogan, the third is shakudo. The front rabbit is shown running against the moon. In Japan the rabbit and the moon are closely related - the “moon rabbit” that is often portrayed as a companion of the moon Goddess and pounding the ingredients for rice cake mochi that popularly stands for the “full-moon”. Gilt raise margin and gilt over the entire reverse, with uchu engraving.
LENGTH 9,6 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.