Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Horváth, Tibor: Report on the Activities of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in 1968

Fig. 6. Japan. Pommel-cap of a Japanese sword (Kashira). Momoyama period, 1568— 1603. 3,5 X 2,7 cm. (It is enlarged in illustration.) Purchased. Inv. No.: 68.13. Usually single pieces of the Japanese sword mounting are not getting much attention for the reason that there are hundreds if not thousands of them in any larger collection. Generally, their designs are very fine and the standard of craftsmanship is excellent, much admired by the collectors from 1870 until 1914. Surprisingly enough in the last thirty years they were not much dealt with in books or in scholarly papers, except by B. W. Robinson, The Arts of the Japanese Sword. London, Faber and Faber, 1961. Our kashira might be specially interesting for the reason that it could be dated to the Momoyama period by dint of the lion which is representing the style of the Kano school of painters of that time. Perhaps it could also be connected with the studio of Kano Eitoku, the great and celebrated master, who did paintings of lions with a few leaves of a shrub in the front of them. Not many of the sword mountings (fuchi, kashira) made during the Momoyama period remained in this style. It would be rather difficult to find out the name of the master or of the school of this piece. Most probably it was made in a workshop which was situated either in Kyoto or not far from it, and had close connections with the Kano roasters. This pommel-cap was made of iron, while the lion and leaves are made of copper and gilt. The figure of the lion is embossed.