Art/ Collection/ Art Object
Search
{{img.publicCaption}}

Armor (Gusoku)

Date:
19th century
Culture:
Japanese
Medium:
Iron, leather, lacquer, silk, copper alloy
Dimensions:
as mounted, approx.: H. 77 in. (195.6 cm); W. 26 in. (66 cm); D. 16 1/2 in. (41.9 cm)
Classification:
Armor for Man
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1904
Accession Number:
04.4.2
Not on view
Although constructed in the traditional sixteenth-century gusoku (complete set) fashion, this is actually an example of the revival of earlier armor styles during the Edo period. It was part of the large collection of Japanese arms and armor formed by Arms and Armor Department founding curator Bashford Dean around 1900, during his extended stays in Japan for scientific research. The armor was included in the Metropolitan Museum's 1903 loan exhibition of Japanese arms and armor from Dean's private collection, which the Museum purchased in 1904.
Ex coll.: Bashford Dean, New York.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–February 14, 1971.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department," October 2, 2012–October 13, 2014.

Dean, Bashford, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Japanese Armor. New York, 1903. p. 47, fig. 14.

Grancsay, Stephen V. "The New Galleries of Oriental Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16, no. 9 (May 1958). pp. 254–255, ill. p. 255 and cover.

Grancsay, Stephen V. "The Japanese Armor Gallery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Connoisseur 148 (September 1961).

Boger, Batterson H. The Traditional Arts of Japan: A Complete Illustrated Guide. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964.

Nickel, Helmut. Ullstein-Waffenbuch: Eine Kulturhistorische Waffenkunde Mit Markenverzeichnis. Berlin: Ullstein, 1974. p. 132, ill.



Timelines
Japan, 1800–1900 A.D.

Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 10, Asia
Of Arms and Men: Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan, 1912–2012
[adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 70, no. 1 (Summer, 2012)]

Related Objects

Armor (Yoroi)

Date: early 14th century Medium: Iron, lacquer, leather, silk, gilt copper Accession: 14.100.121b–e On view in:Gallery 377

Armor (Gusoku)

Artist: Helmet bowl signed Saotome Iyetada (Japanese, Edo period, active early–mid-19th century) Date: 16th and 18th centuries Medium: Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper Accession: 14.100.172 On view in:Gallery 377

Mask

Artist: Inscribed by Myōchin Muneakira (Japanese, Edo period, 1673–1745) Date: dated 1745 Medium: Iron, lacquer, textile (silk) Accession: 19.115.2 On view in:Gallery 370

Helmet in the Shape of a Crouching Rabbit

Date: 17th century Medium: Iron, lacquer, silver, gold, leather, silk Accession: 07.48 On view in:Gallery 377

Helmet (Hoshi- Kabuto) in the 16th-Century Style

Artist: Inscribed by Saotame Iesuek (Japanese, Miyazaki Prefecture, active late 17th–early 18th century) Date: probably late 17th–early 18th century Medium: Iron, lacquer, silk Accession: 36.120.407a, b On view in:Gallery 377
Cover of Guide featuring painting of a man

The Met Guide

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide provides a comprehensive view of art history spanning five millennia and the entire globe.

Video still of a conservator retouching a painting

Latest in MetMedia

Experience the best of human creativity from every corner of the globe at The Met.

Young woman talking in front of a painting

Guided Tours

Explore highlights of the collection through a variety of tours.

Hand holding a mobile phone showing The Met App

The Met App

The easiest way to see what's happening at The Met every day—wherever you are.