1941.4.57.2

Collection type

Object

Description

Armour mask, part of a suit of Japanese armour. [El.B 12/4/2007]

Long description

The mask is lacquered red on the outside and covers only the cheeks and chin. [El.B 12/4/2007]

Geographical reference

Japan

Asia > Eastern Asia > Japan

Cultural groups

Japanese

Person

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Hester Bourne

Date / Period

Date made: 1650-1750

Date collected

By 1941

Acquisition information

Donated: 1941

Materials and processes

Material Lacquer Varnish, Material Metal, Process Lacquered Varnished

Dimensions

Width: max 170 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1941.4.57.2

Research and responses

I have assumed that the donor was Hester Bourne who lived at Fyfield Manor and whose husband was MP for Oxford. I have not yet found a deeper link to Japan [AP 08/04/2014]

The following notes are drawn from research compiled by Andy Mills as part of the DCF Cutting Edge project in 2006-2007. This is a suit of mass-produced retainer armour. A zunari-kabuto (‘head-shaped helmet’), the bowl constructed of three plates. The five shikoro are laced in dark blue, and swept curving outwards and downwards – in the hineno-jikoro style appropriate to the bowl. The fukigaeshi are also small and ear-shaped, as is appropriate to hineno-kabuto. This style of helmet post-dates its development in the late 16th century. The face protection is of the sparsest kind, known as hoate, and is perhaps more practical than the larger menpo of other suits.

There are a number of kamon-like devices on this suit, in the locations where one normally encounters kamon, although none seems to predominate. There is, rather, no uniformity. [SM 09/05/2008]

Search terms: Armour Weapon, Mask