Country Group: China, Japan and Korea

Item id: 682

A mystery to me- a sculpture, and it may have been created as one, although I am not positive- it looks like a Tsuba, or sword mount, with a tiny monkey climbing on it like he was in a cage. The design on the Tsuba is made to look like a cage, and the design has elements which interplay with elements on the monkey. There are also grooves on the Tsuba where the Monkey fits in to, and there is a bit of gilding on both the Tsuba and the monkey which match. There is a very minor amount of white on some of the inner areas which possibly can be removed, and some early minor wear to the outer edge (maybe it was an actual sword piece?). Excellent quality monkey. Anyways, the whole thing works and is quite lovely. 2 and 7/8th square, not including the attached modern base.