The Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armour

The Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armour

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 11. A Momonari kabuto [peach shaped helmet] | Edo period, 17th century.

The Property of a European Collector

A Momonari kabuto [peach shaped helmet] | Edo period, 17th century

VAT reduced rateUK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Lot Closed

May 11, 02:11 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Property of a European Collector

A Momonari kabuto [peach shaped helmet]

Edo period, 17th century 


the peach shaped iron helmet decorated overall in black lacquer with later gold and silver nashiji to the rim, the peak decorated in gold hiramaki-e on a nashiji ground with karakusa, the shikoro [neck guard] and turnbacks in red lacquer, the wakidate in the form of clam shells of wood decorated in gold, red and black lacquer 

The bowl to peak: 22.5 cm., 8 ⅞ in.  

The shikoro to peak: 26 cm., 10 ¼ in. 

Guiseppe Piva, Samurai: Opere della Collezione Koelliker e delle Raccolte Extraeuropee del Castello Sforzesco, (Milan, 2009), no. 38, pg. 90-91.
The peach-shaped helmet was popular in the Momoyama period because swords and arrows were easily deflected off its smooth surfaces. The shape was influenced by Spanish-style morions with their smooth solid plates forming each side with a central crest running down the middle. 

Kuroda Nagemasa (1568-1623) a leading military figure in the late sixteenth century wore a similar helmet at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.