Japanese gift armour

[IanB]

I am still doing a bit here and there at the Armouries. There may be a couple of exhibitions coming up but at the moment they are still in the exploratory stage and may come to naught. My pet project, the diplomatic armours and gifts during the 16th and 17th centuries is still on-going. Every time I think I have things sorted, something new crops up. I have just heard confirmation that there is a ceiling painting in the Palace of Versailles showing a Japanese armour. I had heard about the possibility a year ago but thought it unlikely. But yes its there. It was one of the two armours sent to King Louis by Tokugawa Ieyasu. I haven't seen a picture of it yet but it should be one of the armours in the Musee de l'Armee. I have also learned that Francesco De Medici met the Tensho mission in Florence and was given two armours. So far I have only a description of one of them and it doesn't read as if it is Japanese. No mention of lacquer or lacing. Whatever it was it had a 'spiral' or 'windmill' (girello) on the breast. It could be a mitsu tomoe kamon I suppose, but so far I haven't been able to find a copy of the inventory of the Medici armoury to confirm or deny this. I still have to find evidence as to how Rudolf of Bohemia obtained the two armours that appeared in Prague in 1607, or how two appear in Copenhagen in the mid 17th century. One of the latter is in a painting done in 1630 or thereabouts, but in Antwerp. All in all very frustrating but fascinating. What I have found is that a haramaki in the Royal Armouries is in a Spanish document of 1585 - given to Philip II by the Tensho mission. That was rewarding.

Ian

[kusunokimasahige]

Wow thats interesting news indeed!! Well here in Leiden we do have a few things given to our royal family by the Tokugawa of course... highly likely also some diplomatic sets of armour! But since i havent been to the museum of Ethnology lately i am not sure wether the armours they have there were given by the lord of the Shimazu-clan or by the Shogunate...

 

In the Netherlands there is a lot of Japanese stuff around anyway...

 

Keep us posted!

 

KM

[Brian]

Ian, since this is an interesting and ongoing topic on its own, I split it from the "collector age" discussion. I hope you will update us here when you get new info and others will contribute anything they know.

 

Brian

[IanB]

Henk-Jan, There were three armours given to Staadholder Mautritz (if that's the right spelling) by Ieyasu in 1611(Nachod, O; 1897 Die Beziehungen der Niederlandischen Ostindischen Kompanie zu Japan im seibzehnten Jahrhundert. Leipzig). There is a painting by Jan van Campen in the Oranjezaal of the Huis ten Bosch in the Hague, done about 1650 that shows one of these armours. It is quite distinctive having the fukigayeshi decorated with the kiku and kiri kamon side by side. In the painting it actually looks like a butterfly unless you know what it really is. That armour, and another also with a kirimon, were taken by French troops in the late 18th century and are now in Paris. What happened to the third armour I do not know. It might be still in some collection in Holland but the Dutch curators I have spoken to do not know of one. I have seen one armour in Leiden but it is a late Edo Do maru. Magnificent thing but not the missing one.

Ian

[kusunokimasahige]

Wauw i did not know Maurits received those, and well the French nicking them....

 

We should demand them back !! Reminds me of the Elgin marbles debate or the mirror of the Royal Charles haha which is still in our Rijksmuseum... no chance there...

 

I think they have more than one in Leiden, however the last time i spoke to mr. van Gulik was years back when i studied Japanese Language and Culture here... however i am starting up history again so probably will get access to some things again!!

 

I dont know wether there is some info still to be found in the archives here..

 

The document of Philip II interests me! Since it is a little before the Dutch gain a strong foothold in Japan. So how did the Haramaki come into English posession?

 

KM

[IanB]

Henk-Jan, The haramaki was definitely given to Philip II of Spain, together with at least two other armours, by the Tensho mission. How they got it I am not sure since it has the old Shimazu kamon of the character Ju in a circle. The Japanese were from the Arima, Otomo and Omura families and there had been fighting on Kyushu between them so I guess it was captured. On the receipt of the gift, Philip had two armours placed in his 'Treasure House'. I have an inventory description of these, one of which is still in the Real Armeria in Madrid. The other is a bit mysterious since it is described as having fur (pelo de lobo marino) on the helmet and other parts. None of the armours I have traced correspond with the description. Anyway, in 1603, there is an order transferring an armour from the Treasure House to the Armoury. This is the haramaki, different from the first two described. It then crops up in the inventory of the armoury of the Duke of Infantado in Guadalajara about 1670, with two other armours. King Philip III was desperately short of cash so one must assume they were sold to the Duke by him. There they appear to stay until the Napoleonic wars when the armoury in Guadalajara was plundered by French troops. One armour is taken off to Paris and ends up in the hands of Francois Joseph Talma, a French actor and pal of Napoleon. It then goes through three auctions until I lose it. Meanwhile the other two are acquired by Eusebio Zuloaga, a custodian of the Real Armeria who sells one in Parisin 1838 and the haramaki in London in 1841. It was at this sale that it was bought by the Royal Armouries (Tower of London) in the belief it was an armour of a 'Moor of Granada'. It is a very rare armour but a friend in Japan has found another helmet, almost certainly from the same workshop. Interestingly, we have X-rayed parts of the armour and many of the plates are of reused old metal, many of them patched together from pieces. It indicates how valuable iron was. Even the mask has one whole side patched on to make a big enough piece of iron. It also shows battle damage, one sleeve having been hit by an arrow which has cut a groove through the lacquer across a plate and then burst the mail.

Ian

[DirkO]

or how two appear in Copenhagen in the mid 17th century. One of the latter is in a painting done in 1630 or thereabouts, but in Antwerp. Ian

 

Hi Ian,

 

What is in Antwerp ? The armour or the painting ? I work there, so I might be able to get you more info about it, if you need it.

[IanB]

Dirk, Sorry, I was rather vague. The armour I was referring to is now in the Royal Danish Kunstkammer, together with another in the kansei style, laced in red, white and blue and decorated with a variation of the mitsu tomoe maru kamon. The first has a black lacquered hotoke do and simple sode, the rest now being missing. The other is complete. According to the records the two armours appear in the collection about the middle of the 17th century with a few other Japanese pieces, including a picnic set. Sadly they don't say where they came from. Christian IV (1588 – 1648) was a fanatical collector of curiosities and had agents all over Europe buying things for him. We know what the incomplete armour looked like because it appears in a painting by Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678) and Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632) entitled ‘Allegory of Touch’. This painting is now preserved in the Musèe Calvat in Avignon. The fact that Brueghel only worked in Antwerp and that Balen died in 1632 suggests the armour must have passed through Antwerp, about 1630. The picture shows that the armour originally had an Etchu zunari kabuto, a hanbo and shino gote, all black lacquered. The pile of European armour in the left foreground of the Brueghel painting was copied in another painting by David Teniers called ‘The Guard Room’, but the Japanese armour was omitted in this one.

Ian

[DirkO]

Ian,

 

I think both those paintings originated were inspired by Jan Brueghel the Elder (father) which is currently at the Prado:

http://www.museodelprado.es/en/ingles/collection/on-line-gallery/on-line-gallery/zoom/2/obra/touch/oimg/0/

 

Jan the Younger was known for copying his fathers work (although he supposedly only did the background of this painting). Could be he picked up the idea or image of the Japanese armour while travelling in Italy (which he did after his father's death in 1625). David Teniers in turn was married to the daughter of Jan the Elder, Anna Breughel.

[IanB]

Dirk, It is possible that he did see the armour in Italy. As I said earlier, there were supposed to be two armours in the Medici armoury, which was dispersed long ago. So far, I have yet to find an inventory of that armoury for the period when the armours might have been there. Apart from the Dutch and English armours, which were sent to their recipients in the hands of traders, there are only two other possibilities. Captain Saris was given an armour by Matsura Hoin that he stated he had worn in Korea. The Danish armour would fit the bill, being a practical fighting style, however there is nothing in Saris' diary or his will to indicate what happened to the armour. He records that he was given it and that is that. The other possibility is Richard Cox who was given an armour by the shogun. There is no description of this armour but I suspect it may be that shown in the painting of Sir Neill O'Neill.

Ian