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Old 10th April 2019, 12:09 AM   #6
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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Thank you Jasper for sharing these two examples which show fascinating comparison.
Aylward (1945. p.57) he describes 'Tonquinese' made in the Far East for the VOC between 1710 and 1750 but claims this could not be correct as Dampier (from "Dampiers Voyages", Mansfield, 1906) in noting all the manufacturers at Tonquin, there is no mention of swords being made there. He notes further that the VOC withdrew their factory there in 1707.

Here he suggests that the work went to Peking, and that afterwards, "..the company brought over some Chinese workmen to Europe, who produced in Amsterdam 'hilts of similar character' which were fitted with blades made in Holland and Solingen".

This seems contradictory as if no swords were made in Asia, then what hilts of 'similar character' were made by the Chinese workmen in Amsterdam?

Also, you have noted that Tonquin (whose location is not specified in Aylward) was actually/probably Tokyo. The shakudo (black bronze) described is, if I presume correctly, a Japanese alloyed metal and process...not Chinese.

The so called Nanban trade into Japan by Europeans (from 1543) ended with the seclusion of Japan with the exception of the VOC who were permitted to maintain an enclave in Dejima (off Nagasaki) from 1638 +

Here I think I found something (an article which I had stuffed in the pages of Aylward):
"Smallswords in Japan?" by Dr.Peter Bleed (Man at Arms" Vol.34, #4. Aug. 2012) notes that through the Nanban (Southern Barbarian trade as derisively termed) which influenced Japanese artisans and artists.
In this article the author notes the reference from Aylward about bringing Chinese artisans to Holland, however "...recent scholars examining swords of this type agree they were made by Japanese craftsmen".

With this it is also noted that conversely, motifs, styles of Europe in these smallswords influenced what are known as 'nanban' tsuba, and that most of the motifs borrow from Chinese influences but in degree some of the European. Most of these examples date second quarter 18th c.
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