Helmet with Phoenix and Battle-Axe Ornaments

Myochin (Artist)

1825-1875 (late Edo)

iron, lacquer, silk, wood, baleen, rawhide
(Japanese Military Armor)

This helmet has an iron "hachi" of thirty-three riveted laminations, a "shikoro" of five plates laced in "kebiki" (spread hair) style with navy blue "ito doshi" laces, and axes as "yokodate" made from whale baleen. A Phoenix ("Ho o") serves as a "maedate;" one tail feather is missing. It is lined with rawhide.

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.**

Bunkio Matsuki Sale, A. A. Gallery, New York, February 10, 1906, no. 257; Henry Walters, Baltimore, February 10, 1906, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Exhibitions

2014-2016

From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

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Geographies

Japan (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H w/o horn: 17 15/16 × W: 13 3/16 × D: 13 3/4 in. (45.5 × 33.5 × 35 cm)
H with horn: 25 3/8 × W: 14 5/8 × D: 13 3/4 in. (64.5 × 37.1 × 35 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1906

Location in Museum

Not on view

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

51.609

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