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Source Description

One hundred monkeys was a typical motif for Mitsuhiro and other members of his school. A multitude of monkeys are carved into the body of the tsuba. Their eyes are highlighted in gold. Hidden throughout the design are monkeys with special characteristics. In the upper portion are the three monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. At the lower right, two monkeys are neck-wrestling with a rope tied around their necks. In the upper left section, a monkey holds a giant peach. At the lower left, a monkey has a bag over its shoulder. In the upper right is a monkey carrying fan or a baton. This tsuba is similar to another in the Walters collection by the same artist made of copper (51.112). Other known examples by Mitsuhiro are almost all in the same style with a single motif carved throughout the tsuba.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
21366
label
Tsuba with One Hundred Monkeys
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
21366
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Tsuba with One Hundred Monkeys
description
One hundred monkeys was a typical motif for Mitsuhiro and other members of his school. A multitude of monkeys are carved into the body of the tsuba. Their eyes are highlighted in gold. Hidden throughout the design are monkeys with special characteristics. In the upper portion are the three monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. At the lower right, two monkeys are neck-wrestling with a rope tied around their necks. In the upper left section, a monkey holds a giant peach. At the lower left, a monkey has a bag over its shoulder. In the upper right is a monkey carrying fan or a baton. This tsuba is similar to another in the Walters collection by the same artist made of copper (51.112). Other known examples by Mitsuhiro are almost all in the same style with a single motif carved throughout the tsuba.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1770-1823 (Edo)
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Arms & Armor
tsubas
sword components
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
7.3
height
6.9
depth
0.5
dimensionsRaw
2 7/8 x 2 11/16 x 3/16 in. (7.25 x 6.88 x 0.52 cm)
Source extras
cul
Japanese
style
Hizen School
inscriptions
[Signature] 肥州矢上住 光廣; [Transliteration] hishu yagami ju/mitsuhiro; [Translation] Living at Yagami in Hizen province/Mitsuhiro
med
silver
creator_ids
3160
collection_ids
JMA
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
483a9ae4abe05482
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
51407de3127639f2
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
53215d7397a7e7f4
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no