Publish by Gazette Drouot International

Among the more than 200 tsubas collected over five decades by the collector Patrick Liebermann, this one stands out by taking the stylized features of a famous actor of the last century.

Life is full of surprises…When Patrick Liebermann (1948-2023) bought his first tsuba in 1970 during an exploratory trip to Japan, he really had no idea what it was. On his return, he immersed himself in books and started a collection. Today, this is going under the hammer. “My guides were artistic quality, the originality of the themes involved and the refinement of the work,” he says.

Classified by theme, 220 of these Japanese sword guards bear witness to this approach, with estimates ranging from €300/400 to €5,000/6,000. In the theater and poetry section, a model (in gold-inlaid copper), in the form of two Noh theater masks depicting the demons Oni (open-mouthed devil) and Obeshimi (hornless devil with wrinkled forehead and bulging eyes), from the late Edo period (c. 1846), dialogues with a portrait of the famous kabuki actor Morita Jusaku (1882-1961: see photo). Known from 1906 as Bando Mitsugoro VII, and belonging to an artistic dynasty going back to the 18th century, he was acclaimed as a “living national treasure” and nicknamed Odori no kamisana (“the god of dance”). The stylized features here suggest that this is not just a tsuba dedicated to the actor, but a portrait of Bando Mitsugoro VII himself. It is estimated at €1,500/2,000, as is the model with grimacing faces. Both of them featured in the “Samurai: Warriors and Aesthetes” exhibition at Strasbourg's Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire in 2022. A landmark show.


Tadao, Japan, Showa period (1926-1989)
Iron Tsuba maru gata with openwork kage sukashi depicting the face of kabuki actor Bando Mitsugoro VII, h. 9.5 cm/3.5 in.
Estimate: €1,500/2,000