Bardi Museum

[Kanenaga]

Going to visit the Bardi museum in Venice this week, billed as the most important collection of Edo-period Japanese art in Europe, much of it nihonto-related. I believe this has been mentioned previously on this forum, but not coming up on a quick search. Does anyone have any particular item(s) in mind that they would like photographed (if permissible)?

 

Otherwise, I'll just shoot whatever catches my fancy...

[C0D]

I think you mean the "Museo d'arte Orientale Ca' Pesaro" in Venice
here's an article i wrote (in italian but you can google translate it)
http://www.intk-toke...e-orientale-venezia/

[Kanenaga]

Yes Manuel, that's the one.

I'll use your article to practice my Italian.

[MauroP]

I've visited the museum just a couple of weeks ago, after many years. Unfortunately nothing has changed. It's the kind of museum coud be acceptable a century ago, nowadays a shame for a developed country and for a culture capital like Venice. The quality of the collection is (possibly) out of discussion (but hard to judge in its own merit, IMHO), but the poor light, the small spaces and little information on each piece makes the whole more likes an old wunderkammer rather than a modern cultural experience.

[Kanenaga]

Well,  just back from my visit to the Museo Orientale showing the collection of Count Bardi. Or part of it, as the info states there is more (much more?) that is not on display. Manuel's article translates quickly to English, and gives a good sense of what there is to see, and it's a LOT of stuff. My rough count may be off by one or two items:

 

68 katana

72 wakizashi

75 tanto, sometimes hard to distinguish from wakizashi 

All the foregoing were koshirae (only one daisho set), presumably with blades inside but there was no way to tell.  

26 bare blades, many with dragon horimono. Three of them with Tadatsuna signatures. One o-dachi.

17 firearms, many with prominent inlays

84 yanone, some very complex show pieces

28 katana zutsu

9 quivers

31 jingasa

15 saddles, many with lacquer decoration

19 abumi sets, about half matched to saddles

4 katana kake

The foregoing were all in display cases, the lighting was dim, it was suboptimal for appreciating detail. Flash photo was not permitted, but I was not told up front so I took some pictures  and will try to post a few once I edit them. I could see that some of the iron fittings had rust, and there was no moisture provided in the cases so some of the lacquer decorations appeared to be drying out and deteriorating. 

 

Also...

157 yari, most in koshirae

54 naginata, all mounted

and numerous other Edo-period items such as netsuke, lacquerware, small carvings, musical instruments and drums, and hanging scrolls. No inro. 

Notably absent were fittings per se, not even a few tsuba; and koto items, save for one mumei katana attributed to Aoe, and one or two Norimitsu wakizashi. But then, it is called an Edo-period collection.

 

It's a display that prompted me to think yet again about the distinction between collecting and accumulating. I did not perceive any particular focus or theme to the material, except for the obvious attraction to polearms, and to horimono on blades -- although some of that may reflect more the attitude of the curators rather than the taste of the collector. In terms of appreciation, I particularly liked some of the firearms, yanone, the saddle/abumi sets, and the musical instruments.

 

I'm a bit surprised that no one has cataloged and properly photographed this collection, so that it could be compared to the other great European and American collections (Baur, Festing, Hawkshaw, et al.) from this same time period, i.e., late 19th - early 20th century.  Those other collections no longer exist except in books or auction catalogs. Perhaps a project for one or more doctoral students in art history?

 

Anyway, I hope this is of interest to some, and - Brian - that this has not taken up too much bandwidth. 

 

Les

 

PS: There's a site that shows some 360-degree views of the exhibition rooms. Very little detail, of course.

https://www.italyart...YmkeOM_qkZdQMSIC1Qvc

 

 

 

[C0D]

The museum is actually going to have them properly catalogued in the near future and if all goes well i should be involved in the process to ensure all is done properly

[MauroP]

Manuel, I've recently moved to Venice, so I'd be glad to be part in the effort, nonetheless my limited competence.

[C0D]

I'm not even sure I will be part of this, because despite the curator suggested my name to the external company that will do the work my resume needs to be approved by the "Beni Culturali", as the museum is public owned