The Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armour

Online Auction: 30 April–11 May 2021 • 3:00 PM BST • London

W e are delighted to announce the sale of The Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armour, with a fine selection of works associated with the samurai class. The beginning of the sale features a group of helmets from an American private collection, including a rare hoshi bachi of conical form.

Other helmets in the sale, such as a kawari kabuto shaped as a Dutch puritan steeple hat and a momonari kabuto influenced by the form of Spanish style morions, display the interest in European material and fashions as trade relations were initiated in the sixteenth century.

The sale continues with fine examples of armour from a distinguished European collection, including nimai-do gusoku and okegawa-do gusoku. Concluding the sale is a diverse offering of swords and mounts, from an early tachi attributed to Norishige to an elaborate Omori school koshirae.