An iron tsuba

Description:

Japan, signed Soheishi Soten sei. mid Edo period, 18th c.
7.2 x 6.7 x 0.4 m
Tate-maru-gata. Iron, maru-bori, iroe-taka-zogan in gold and silver, sekigane in copper. War scene with ships Kaku-mimi-koniku.
From an old German private collection, published in: Günther Heckmann, ‘Tsuba’. H.U.B Verlag, Nürtingen, 1995, T 93
The style of hikone-bori, which the Soten family is famous for, had been founded by Soheishi Soten. He had worked since the end of the 17th century. It is very difficult and sometimes nearly impossible to classify the objects with the Soten signature, this style having been copied and "signed", too often. The comparatively large and distinct realisation of the pictoral elements, is an untypical presentation for Sotens. Due to this distinctive feature, the illustrated tsuba can possibly be dated back to the first masterclass of the Soten