The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour
The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour
The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour
Lot Closed
September 28, 01:02 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Charlier and Cortina Collection of Exotic Samurai Helmets and Armour
A tokan-nari kabuto [helmet in the form of a Chinese court cap]
Edo period, 17th century
the black lacquered iron bowl with an applied black lacquer stylised Chinese court cap, the small black lacquered peak with hammered brow, four-tiered close-fitted neck guard with solid plates (Hineno itamono-jikoro) and with spaced lacing (sugake odoshi) in blue braid, a later gold, red and black lacquer forecrest (maedate) applied with horse hair in the form of a shikami, an additional gilt sun disc maedate, large black lacquered lateral crests (wakidate) in the form of ei, accompanied with a plain wood stand as illustrated
The helmet when mounted on a stand: 61 cm., 24 in. high(including fittings)
The helmet is reminiscent of the Tang dynasty (618-907) courtier's cap (tokanmuri), with the inner bowl constructed in zunari, or head-shaped form and applied to the apex with harikake papier-mâché. The shape of the fitted lateral crests derive from the tied cords (ei) that can be seen protruding from the sides from such early Chinese headgear.
For a different example of a helmet in tokan-nari form in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2018.833.14a, b, go to: