September 15, 16, & 17, 2026 Firearms & Militaria
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
Lot #1393:
GOTO MITSUTAKA FUCHI KASHIRA WITH GOTO JOSHIN SHISHI DOGS, EX. SWEDLOW COLLECTION
The first three generations of Goto are regarded as the original masters of the mainline school, however, they are also known never to sign their works. Because of this, an idea was created that the later generation masters appraised and repaired the works of the older masters. They achieved this by either providing an origami stating this fact, or signing the attribution directly on the piece, as in this case. According to this signature, the main subject of these pieces were made by the third master, Goto Joshin, and, most likely, were remounted as a fuchi kashira by Goto Mitsutaka, the thirteenth master. Mitsutaka is also known as the best Goto master for attributing previous masterpieces. This example depicts a pair of dancing shishi dogs in solid gold on a finely executed nanako ground with gold rims. This attribution places the shishi dogs as circa the 1500s. This is accompanied by a precious Tokubetsu Kicho origami from the NBTHK showing the provenance of the famous Swedlow collection. David Swedlow was a famous Japanese art collector who specialized in high end tosogu and inro, and his pieces were featured in several books. In an old paulownia wood box with royal purple pillow and lining. CONDITION: Excellent, with some errant handling marks that do not detract. Fuchi measures 2.1cm wide, 3.8cm long, and 1.2cm tall, kashira measures approximately 8mm tall (not counting the shishi dog) 3.3cm long and 1.5cm wide. Goto mounts are very rare, especially one with work from the third master and an attribution from one the best attributors.