A nanban-do gusoku [armour] | The helmet signed Saotome Ienari | Edo period, 17th century

Armour from an Important Private European Collection

A nanban-do gusoku [armour]

The helmet signed Saotome Ienari

Edo period, 17^th century

the helmet with kebiki odoshi [close-laced] in white braid, the russet iron mempo with mouth agape, the moustache and chin tuft decorated in silver inlays, red lacquer interior, two-tier yodare-gake [throat protector] with stenciled Dutch leather decorated in hanabishi, gilt copper fittings of raised chrysanthemum heads among foliate scrolls, pierced with boar's eye openings (inome), the heavy iron nanban do [European-style cuirass] hinged in two pieces with iron rivets, broad seven tier sode [shoulder guards], six tassets of five-tiered kusazuri [skirt], with shino suneate [shin guards], with an armour storage box