The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour

The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 9. A Ryoei ryubu-style mempo [face mask] | Edo period, 17th century.

The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour

A Ryoei ryubu-style mempo [face mask] | Edo period, 17th century

VAT reduced rateUK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Lot Closed

September 28, 01:10 PM GMT

Estimate

4,000 - 5,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour

A Ryoei ryubu-style mempo [face mask]

Edo period, 17th century


the russet iron mempo forged of a single iron plate, formed in ryubu-style with noble expression and unwrinkled face, standing flanges (yadome) to the cheeks, red lacquer interior, throat protector in linked chainmail weave, Chinese silk brocade lining, accompanied by a black metal stand as illustrated


18.2 cm., 7¼ in. wide

For a different example of a face mask forged in a single iron piece attributed to Myochin Ryoie, see Ian Bottomley, Japanese Armor: The Galeno Collection, (Berkeley, 1998), p. 165. In the text, Bottomely comments that face masks 'forged in one piece are of great rarity. Sakakibara Kozan in his book Chukokatchu Seisakuben, published in Edo in 1800, comments that masks of this type were first made by Myochin Ryoei in the late seventeeth century and, while acknowledging the skill involved, dismissed them as being impractical.'