#MetalMonday / #MonkeyMonday :
Sword Guard (Tsuba) Depicting Group of Monkeys in a Peach Tree (猿猴摘桃透鐔)
Japan, c.1615–1868
Iron, copper, gold
H 3 3/16 in. (8.1 cm); W 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm); thickness 1/4 in. (0.6 cm); Wt. 5.2 oz. (147.4 g)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 91.1.753
“This tsuba shows a group of eight monkeys in and around a peach tree, with one monkey actually holding a peach in his hand. The faces of each of the monkeys are inlaid in copper. Both hitsu-ana (openings for scabbard accessories) have been plugged with gilt copper plugs of which one has come off.
Monkeys fetching peaches is a common subject in Chinese and Japanese art. A Chinese legend has it that Su Wukong (Japanese: Son Gokū, 孫悟空), better known as Monkey King, steals the Peaches of Immortality guarded by the Queen Mother of the West (Chinese: Xiwangmu, Japanese: Seiōbō) and consumes them.”
