![A Kawari kabuto [unusually shaped helmet] | Edo period, 17th - 18th century](https://dam.sothebys.com/dam/image/lot/3432a15f-76a9-41e5-b74e-1c895e7ce7c4/primary/extra_small)
The Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armour
The Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armour
![View full screen - View 1 of Lot 12. A Kawari kabuto [unusually shaped helmet] | Edo period, 17th - 18th century.](https://sothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fb1abe5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x2000+0+0/resize/385x385!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fmedia-desk%2F9d%2Fbd%2F8efb3f214968b62981aa22154b01%2Fl21225-bhbzx-1.jpg)
The Property of a European Collector
A Kawari kabuto [unusually shaped helmet] | Edo period, 17th - 18th century
Lot Closed
May 11, 02:13 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of a European Collector
A Kawari kabuto [unusually shaped helmet]
Edo period, 17th - 18th century
the iron bowl in the form of a turbo shell realistically rendered, the turnbacks and peak decorated in Dutch leather and oil litharge with birds and chrysanthemums, the shikoro [neck guard] of three tiers with spaced lacing, the maedate wood with gold and black lacquer in the form of stag antlers with a central boar's eye
The bowl to peak: 31 cm., 12 ¼ in.
The shikoro to peak: 38 cm., 15 in.
The shell of the turbo is spiked to protect against predators, and such helmets were thus thought to give the wearer confidence and disquiet his enemies. The shape of the bowl, hammered and made from a single sheet of iron, is typical of the Ryoei school.
For a similar example of a kawari kabuto rendered in the form of a turbo shell, see Robert T. Singer, Edo: Art in Japan 1615-1868, (New Haven, 1998), no. 74, pg. 139.