| Bamen Tsunemasa was born in Echizen in Kanpo 1 (1741) into a family engaged in the production of ironwork such as horse equipment and armor. He studied under Kikuchi Tsunekatsu, the founder of the Kikuchi school, and was permitted to use the character “Tsune” (序) from his teacher’s name, signing his works “Bamen Tsunemasa” with kao. He lived in Shitaya, Edo. Tsunemasa produced excellent tsuba, developing distinctive variations of Ito-style openwork as well as intricate ito-sukashi designs. This work is skillfully carved with a bamboo design in kage-sukashi on finely forged iron. The arrangement of the bamboo is particularly masterful, demonstrating the metalworker’s refined sense of composition. It passed the NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tosogu shinsa in 1992. |
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