A JAPANESE COMPOSITE ARMOUR

A JAPANESE COMPOSITE ARMOUR, GUSOKU

EDO PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The helmet made up of eighteen plates, suji bachi kabuto, with the pierced circular finial (tehen kanamono) and stylised antlers (kuwagata) in gilt, the frontal decoration (maedate) shaped as a quatrelobed mon, the menpo mask with hair moustache and a three-tiered throat guard (yodarekake), the chest armour (do) made up of horizontal plates riveted together, with shoulder and shin guards, the surface lacquered in black and with dark blue lacing, together with a modern storage box and stand, yoroi kake. (9)

Provenance: from a deceased estate, Hampshire.