.jpg?w=1)
LATE MUROMACHI/EARLY MOMOYAMA PERIOD (16TH CENTURY)
Details
AN EXCEPTIONAL SOMEN
Late Muromachi/Early Momoyama Period (16th Century)
This fine russet iron mask with its hooked beak of a nose is modelled on the mythical bird masks used in the gigaku dances, made in three pieces the brow and nose joined by hinges whilst the ears are riveted on, the eyes are large and open beneath bold double eyebrows, there is no mouth, the piercing beneath the beak giving ventilation, the cheeks have standing flanges and beneath the chin are the shaped pegs and a short tube, on the point of the chin is an applied pierced plum blossom, the brow plate has a hood stitched to its upper edge and the interior is lacquered red, a two lame throat defence of black lacquered iron lamellae is laced closely with red, green and purple and is attached to the mask by a broad band of printed leather
Late Muromachi/Early Momoyama Period (16th Century)
This fine russet iron mask with its hooked beak of a nose is modelled on the mythical bird masks used in the gigaku dances, made in three pieces the brow and nose joined by hinges whilst the ears are riveted on, the eyes are large and open beneath bold double eyebrows, there is no mouth, the piercing beneath the beak giving ventilation, the cheeks have standing flanges and beneath the chin are the shaped pegs and a short tube, on the point of the chin is an applied pierced plum blossom, the brow plate has a hood stitched to its upper edge and the interior is lacquered red, a two lame throat defence of black lacquered iron lamellae is laced closely with red, green and purple and is attached to the mask by a broad band of printed leather
Literature
Kazuo Iida, Katchu-men (Japan, 1991), no.4.