Armour
Category
Arms and armour
Date
1850 - 1899
Materials
Iron, lacquer
Place of origin
Japan
Collection
Snowshill Manor and Garden, Gloucestershire
NT 1328750.12
Summary
Helmet of ‘peach’ shape (momonari kabuto), Japanese, of black lacquered iron, of rounded conical form with a stepped central flange and with a concave visor embossed with stylised eyebrows, with fittings for crests on either side (wakidate).
Full description
The momonari kabuto was derived from the cabassets worn by the Europeans who arrived in Japan in the 16th century. The European examples had almond shaped bowls terminating in small stalks that turned backwards. To the Japanese this implied retreating and when modifying original European helmets, they usually reversed them so that the stalk faced forward. With momonari kabuto the stalk is represented by a step in the flange joining the two halves of the helmet bowl.
Provenance
Purchased by Charles Paget Wade (1883–1956) from Wyndham Payne, 29 Portland Street, Cheltenham, 31 March 1943 (£6 for four dressed figures); given to the National Trust with Snowshill Manor, 1951.