kougei no sakusya to zidai wo sirabemasita.

の links nouns together. In this sentence, 工芸の作者 means the creator of the craft or the artist/maker of the craft work.

A simple way to think about it is:

• A の B = B of A / B related to A

So here:

• 工芸 = craft, handicraft, craftwork
• 作者 = creator, author, maker
• 工芸の作者 = the creator of the craft

It means the creator and the era of the craft.

The grouping is:

• 工芸の modifies both 作者 and 時代

So the sentence is understood as:

• 工芸の作者と工芸の時代を調べました

Japanese often avoids repeating the same noun when it is clear from context.

It does not normally mean:

• I researched the craft, the creator, and the era

If that were the meaning, the sentence would usually be written more clearly in a different way.

と connects nouns and means and.

So:

• 作者と時代 = the creator and the era/time period

It is just listing two things that were researched.

Because 作者と時代 works as one combined object: the creator and the era.

So the structure is:

• 作者と時代を調べました
• researched the creator and the era

Japanese does this just like English:

• I researched the creator and the era
• not I researched the creator and researched the era

One を can mark the whole noun phrase.

調べました is the polite past form of 調べる, which means to investigate, to look up, or to research.

Breakdown:

• dictionary form: 調べる
• polite non-past: 調べます
• polite past: 調べました

So 調べました means:

• researched
• looked up
• investigated

The polite ます form is very common in textbooks and everyday respectful speech.

Because Japanese usually puts the main verb at the end.

This sentence follows a typical Japanese word order:

• [object] を [verb]
• 工芸の作者と時代を調べました

In English, we say:

• I researched the creator and period of the craft

In Japanese, the verb comes last:

• the creator and period of the craft + researched

This is one of the biggest word-order differences between English and Japanese.

The subject is omitted.

Japanese often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context. So 調べました does not itself mean I researched in a grammatical sense, but in many situations that is the natural interpretation.

Depending on context, it could mean:

• I researched
• we researched
• someone researched

If this appeared in homework, a diary, or a personal statement, English would often translate it as I researched.

時代 means era, period, or historical age.

In this sentence, it probably means the historical period that the craft belongs to or was made in, such as:

• Edo period
• Meiji period
• modern era

So it is not just time in a general sense. It is more specifically a historical period or age.

作者 literally means creator or author, but in English author usually makes people think of books.

Here, 作者 is better understood as:

• creator
• maker
• artist

For works of art or craft objects, English often uses creator or maker rather than author.

So while 作者 can translate literally as author, the most natural English choice depends on what kind of thing was made.

Japanese nouns usually do not show singular/plural the way English does.

So 工芸 can mean:

• craft
• crafts
• craftwork
• handicraft
• a craft object

The exact English translation depends on context.

In this sentence, it most likely refers to a particular craft work or a craft item being researched, but Japanese itself does not force that distinction as clearly as English does.

No. Standard Japanese is normally written without spaces between words.

So this sentence would usually be written as:

工芸の作者と時代を調べました。

The spaces in learning materials are often added to make the structure easier for beginners to see.

Yes, it is natural and understandable.

It is a straightforward sentence meaning that someone researched:

• the creator of the craft
• and its historical period

Depending on context, a more specific noun might sometimes be chosen instead of 工芸, or a different word for creator might be used, but the grammar of the sentence is perfectly normal.