- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- 1 of 51 padded fabric covers for Japanese Noh Masks [JN 3/12/2001]
- Long description
- 1 of 51 covers for Japanese Noh Mask (the masks associated with the covers are numbered 1884.114.7 - 58, the covers are numbered 1884.114.59 - 109). All the mask covers are slightly padded and rectangular or square shaped, mostly with rounded corners. It is said that Noh mask covers are made from pieces cut from old Noh theatrical costumes. This particular piece has a front made from a single piece of silk fabric, with elaborate brocaded patterning in coloured silks and gold metallic thread. The predominant pattern is of flowers on a branch. The back of the cover is of cream silk damask [JN 1998]
- Cultural groups
- Japanese
- Person
- Maker Unknown Maker
- Field collector Unknown Collector
- PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
- Date / Period
- Date made: Possibly before 1880 Archaeological period: Middle Edo Period, uncertain
- Date collected
- ?Prior to 1880
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1884
- Materials and processes
- Material Silk Textile Animal, Material Damask Textile, Material Yarn Metallic, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Process Woven, Process Stitched, Process Brocaded Woven
- Dimensions
- Length x Width: max 215 x 180 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1884.114.64
- Research and responses
Originally there was a single entry for 1884.114.59 - 109 but these have now been made into separate entries for each one when Julia Nicholson undertook some research into the mask covers, therefore 1884.114.60 and on can be found towards the end of this file, amongst the 1884.140 entries, find each one by its specific accession number [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998] Covers for the Noh masks (1884.114.7 - 58). These were not entered in PR V until 1947. [JC]
Information from Anna Jackson, Far Eastern Department, Victoria and Albert Museum (1998): 'numbers 63 and 64 are from karori or atsuita costumes which are some of the most bold in noh. These terms actually describe the weaving technique which employs long, floating wefts.' ' The use of kinran, thin strips of paper covered with gold foil, seen in many of the mask covers (62,64,65,66,67,72,96,83,108) is also very characteristic of Noh costumes'. [JN, 1999]
It appears that nearly all the mask covers in this collection are made from silk cloth but have cotton padding. [JN, 1999)
Illustrated as fig. 17 (with 1884.114.65 and 1884.114.67) on page 22 of Transformations: The Art of Recycling, by Jeremy Coote, Chris Morton, and Julia Nicholson (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2000). (LP 21/6/2000)
Search terms: Mask, Theatre and Drama, Textile, Mask Cover