- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Armoured sleeve [.2], part of complete suit of Japanese armour. [El.B 4/4/2007]
- Long description
- The sleeve is made of a sacking or hessian-like material. This is covered with turquoise textile with patterns in metallic yarn woven into it. The top part of the sleeve is covered with long plates painted gold. The middle part is covered with chainmail with a copper alloy rosette attached. The lower part is again covered with plates painted gold. The part that fits over the back of the hands is covered with chainmail and black lacquered plates, which have a five-petalled flower in copper alloy on it. The sleeve is laced with a green silk cord. There is also a green silk cord around the wrist, fastened with an oblong button. [El.B 4/4/2007]
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Japanese
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1901
- Date collected
- By 1901
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1901
- Materials and processes
- Material Textile, Material Lacquer Varnish, Material Silk Textile Animal, Material Yarn Metallic, Material Pigment, Material Metal, Material Copper Alloy Metal, Process Lacquered Varnished, Process Stitched, Process Woven, Process Painted, Process Tied
- Dimensions
- Length: max 630 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1901.46.1.2
- Research and responses
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 very full suit of highly ornate, and archaistic, armour from the Tokugawa Period. It is either a Presentation Armour for diplomatic gifting between high-ranking individuals, or the Parade Armour of a daimyo, one of his close relatives, or a high-ranking samurai retainer. [SM 08/05/2008]
From the diary (in a private collection) of Arthur Heathcote, who accompanied Henry Martin Gibbs to Peru in 1873: Just before we left Lima Gibbs had offered to him for sale a most curious suit of armour, which on finding that the owner was a gentleman in every way reliable who had been for many years in Japan he bought. It is said to be very rare & certainly most curious, I should much like you to see it & perhaps if you go to Tyntesfield after we get back, you may. The Chinese & Japanese are very numerous in Lima & one can get very pretty things in their shops - but (like everything else in Lima) they are very expensive.
- Associated publications
- Illustrated in colour on page 41 of Pitt Rivers Museum: An Introduction, by Julia Cousins (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2004). Caption (same page) reads: 'Complete suit of decorative Samurai armour; made in Japan in the late nineteenth century.' [JC 8 10 2004]
Search terms: Armour Weapon, Armour, Clothing