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Sword

Object Number:19424A
Current Location: Collections Storage
Culture:Japanese
Provenience: Japan
Period: Edo Period (uncertain)
Meiji Period (uncertain)
Date Made: Edo - 1896
Early Date: 1614
Late Date: 1896
Section:Asian
Materials:Steel
Silk
Ray Skin
Paulownia Wood
Lacquer
Gilded
Metal
Technique:Woven
Credit Line:Gift of Dr. D. B. McCartee, 1896
Other Number:88-16-155A - Found in Collection Number

Description

Long sword, katana. This sword was given to to Dr. Divie Bethune McCartee by Mr. Takahashi Kenzo (1855 - 1898), who was Chief Secretary to the Cabinet of the Imperial Government, and formerly principal editor of the Official Gazette ("Kanpo"). Kenzo gave this sword to Dr. McCartee around 1880 when the doctor gave up his Professorship in the University of Tokyo. Mr. Takahashi was one of his pupils. Mr. Takahashi said the sword had been in his family for three hundred years. There is no inscription on the tang. The silk-wrapped handle, jeweled pins, and tsuba made of paulownia wood are consisitent with the nobility of the gift.

Current & Past Exhibitions:

Images of Victory: Woodblock Prints from the Sino-Japanese War (04 Nov 1995 - 31 Aug 1996) View Objects in Exhibition

Bibliography:

[Article] 1897. "Collections and Publications". Bulletin of the Free Museum of Science and Art. Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania. Vol. 1. no. No. 1. pg. 16-42 Actual Citation : Page/Fig./Plate: 28View Objects related to this Actual Citation

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