Small Chinese saber guard

Of pierced iron, elaborately cut with lotus petal border.

Aoi-gata tsuba with foreigners

Unusual tsuba with foreign figures and Chinese auspicious symbols.

Iron nanban ship tsuba

Pierced and chiseled showing an 18th century European vessel.

Hirado Kunishige fuchi

One of his classic designs, signed by the maker.

Unusual nanban tsuba

Very finely carved with designs reminiscent of export wares.

Yagami school nanban tsuba

A masterpiece of the genre. The Yagami school were excellent carvers of iron.

Three wise monkeys tsuba

Japanese sword guard depicting three wise monkeys conveying the message see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Peony karakusa tsuba

Executed in "nanban style" openwork with chiseled and gold-encrusted peonies.

Early tsuba with alphabet

Curious early tsuba with the beginning of the Western alphabet inscribed into it.

Enamelled Hirado Kunishige tsuba

Fine work and one of the very few enamelled tsuba by this maker.

Japanese tsuba in Canton style

Also known as Kwanto-gata, with two facing dragon chasing a pearl.

House of Aviz tsuba

A Japanese sword guard with the cross of the House of Aviz.

Eight-lobed openwork tsuba

Description

A fairly unusual piece, of eight-lobed design.

A nanban tsuba with Christian orb

A near round tsuba with beaded rim depicting two dragons in vegetal scrollwork.

A nanban tsuba

A rather good example of a Japanese-made nanban tsuba.