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1884.114.67

1 of 51 padded fabric covers for Japanese Noh Masks [JN 3/12/2001]

1884.114.67
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 brocade or supplementary weft patterning. The patterning is of a yellow grid and a blue and black ?cloud / leaf pattern all on a mid-blue ground. The back is of plain cream silk fabric [JN 1998]
Geographical reference
Japan
Asia > Eastern Asia > Japan
Cultural groups
Japanese
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 Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Process Woven, Process Stitched, Process Brocaded Woven, Process Supplementary Weft Woven
Dimensions
Width: max 210 mm, Length: max 225 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1884.114.67
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): ' 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)

Displayed in the exhibition 'Transformations - The Art of Recycling', Pitt Rivers Museum, 25th March 2000 to Easter 2002. [LP 7/6/2000]

Illustrated as fig. 17 (with 1884.114.64 and 1884.114.65) 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

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