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Thread: Arms & Armor Museum Exhibits

  1. #1
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    Arms & Armor Museum Exhibits

    Gene Ching
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  2. #2
    We still have those old weapons and amour Gene. They just need to polish the boys swords ! WhiteAsian , Im one !

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    San Francisco's Legion of Honor & de Young collections

    SF's Legion of Honor has several shields, spear & arrow heads, and various weapons in their Africa, Oceania, and the Americas collection. To be honest, much of these cultures are a gap in my hopological research.

    SF's de Young has a few really nice swords including gaudy diamond-hilted sword and a fine colichemarde.

    Here's that diamond-hilted piece.


    Sword and Scabbard
    Maker: Tiffany & Company
    Artist: Unidentified artist
    Date: ca. 1901
    Location:de Young Gallery 23
    Century: 20th Century AD
    Media: Silver, Steel, Gold Wash And Diamonds
    Department: American Decorative Art
    Object Type: Arms Or Armor
    Country: United States
    Continent: North America
    Accession Number: 54582a-b
    Acquisition Date: 1934-07-31
    Credit Line: Museum purchase, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum

    made for Brigadier General Frederick Funston, USV

    Here's the colichemarde. It has bothered me for years that it is labelled 'sword' and not identified as a colichemarde.



    Sword
    Date: ca. 1735
    Location: de Young Gallery 21
    Century: 18th Century AD
    Media: Silver And Steel
    Dimensions: 35 1/4 x 3 1/8 x 2 1/2 in. (89.5 x 7.9 x 6.4 cm)
    Department: American Decorative Art
    Object Type: Arms Or Armor
    Country: United States
    Continent: North America
    Accession Number: 1981.62
    Acquisition Date: 1981-12-02
    Credit Line: Museum purchase, Art Trust Fund
    As it turns out, you can search the database for the Legion of Honor and de Young for Arms & Armor and it even shows pieces in their collection that are not on display.
    Gene Ching
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    San Francisco's Asian Art Museum

    SF's Asian Art Museum has some nice armor and blades in the Japanese section on permanent display. There's a few odd pieces scattered about the entire museum, particularly notable Indian and Iranian weapons. For China, they have some ancient bronze swords, ge, axes and daggers. They have an excellent collection of Kris blades in a wall display that the main attraction for hopologists.



    Sword
    Place of Origin: China
    Historical Period: Eastern Zhou period (770-256 BCE)
    Materials: Bronze
    Dimensions: L. 21 1/2 in x W. 2 in x Diam. 1 1/2, L. 54.6 cm x W. 5 cm x Diam. 3.8 cm
    Credit Line: The Avery Brundage Collection
    Department: Chinese Art
    Collection: Arms And Armament
    Object Number: B62B145
    On Display: Yes
    Location: Gallery 14
    Here's one of the kris (krises?). There are many more.


    Lady's dagger (kris)
    Place of Origin: Indonesia, Java or Sumatra
    Date: perhaps 1900 - 1950
    Materials: Steel, iron, horn, leather, and ivory
    Dimensions: L. 11 in x W. 3 in, L. 27.9 cm x W. 7.6 cm (overall); L. 9 1/2 in, 24.1 cm (kris); L. 8 3/4 in, 22.2 cm (sheath)
    Credit Line: Gift of the Christensen Fund
    Department: Southeast Asian Art
    Collection: Arms And Armament
    Object Number: 2005.102.30.a-.b
    On Display: No
    You can also access a gallery specifically dedicated to Arms & Armor on their site that includes pieces not on display.

    They offer lessons and programs on their site. Here's the one on Japanese swords.
    Short Sword (wakizashi) and Long Sword (katana)


    Short sword (wakizashi) and Long sword (katana) with blade mountings. Japan. Muromachi period (1333–1573). Forged and tempered steel, sharkskin, black lacquer, gold on bronze. The Avery Brundage Collection, B64W7 and B64W8.


    Short sword (wakizashi) and Long sword (katana) with blade mountings.Short sword (wakizashi) and Long sword (katana)

    Resource Type: Artwork
    Region: Japan
    Topic: Looking at Art
    Grade Level: Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12), College and Beyond
    Academic Subject: Visual/Performing Arts, History/Social Science, Art History
    Keyword Results: samurai
    Downloads:
    PDF iconShort Sword (wakizashi) and Long Sword (katana) (.pdf)
    What were the military and symbolic significance of the long and short sword?
    The sword was the most honored and important weapon for samurai. When a samurai was born, a sword was brought into the room; when he died, a sword was laid beside him, and in between those two events a samurai always slept with his sword by his pillow. Constantly at his side, it was a symbol of the warrior’s physical strength, discipline, and loyalty. Its razor-sharp edge was a point of pride for warriors, allowing for quick, precise cuts and thrusts in the chaos of battle.

    How were they made?
    Sword making is a highly refined and respected art in Japan, part of a ritualized process requiring decades of training. To make a sword, the smith heated blocks of steel, hammering, folding, cutting, forging, and re-forging to drive out impurities and create a finely layered blade that was hard but not brittle. The folding-in of softer iron near the end of the process added resiliency, while the final tempering of the blade, which exposed the edge to the greatest heat and fastest cooling, created an exceptionally hard cutting edge. After the sword-smith had completed the blade, a grinder and polisher gave it its gleaming finish, exposing the unique structure of its razor-sharp edge.

    How did sword styles change to meet the needs of the warrior?
    The use of single-edge iron swords (tachi), dates to the sixth century. By the Kamakura era (1185–1333), tachi were being used by mounted warriors, and rivaled the bow and arrow in importance to the samurai. To improve the tachi’s capability as a cutting and slashing weapon, its design was gradually altered. The long blades became tapered from the hilt to the tip; they were ridged for greater strength; and were curved slightly at the base. To better serve the needs of foot soldiers, a shorter sword (katana), was developed. Curved at the tip and worn stuck into the belt (cutting edge up), the katana allowed soldiers to move unencumbered, able to draw and cut in one stroke.

    In the fifteenth century, mounted samurai also came to prefer the katana, since they often dismounted for hand-to-hand combat. An even shorter companion sword called the wakizashi soon joined the katana in the samurai’s arsenal. Worn together, the pair was known as daisho (big and little).

    What is the significance of the sword’s decorative fittings?
    During the peacetime years of the Edo period (1615–1868), the daisho became a mark of status for the samurai, the only members of society allowed to wear two swords. As the sword became more symbolic than functional, the quality of the blades declined, but enthusiasm for elaborate and expensive sword fittings grew. Sword owners would own many sets of fittings, changing them to suit the occasion or season. Although elegant fittings had been made earlier, the art form reached its peak in the Edo period with richly inlaid and sculpted scenes, and patterns combining precious metals and new alloys.
    Gene Ching
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    Knights in Armor at the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA

    Knights in Armor at the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA
    September 22, 2018 – January 13, 2019
    2002 N Main St, Santa Ana, CA 92706

    This features pieces from the Museo Stibbert in Florence, which I visited last month. I'm planning on reviewing that later which is what motivated me to launch this thread.
    Gene Ching
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    Other places

    Also worth a look up in the biggest city in canada is the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Or, "The Rom"

    It has:

    Prince Takamado Gallery

    Which has really well preserved samurai armour, swords, helmets etc. Amazingly well taken care of too.
    Also in the same museum is the Earl of Pembroke armour, given to him by Henry VIII along with various weapons, horse armour etc. throughout the museum, there are various other pieces that have made their way through time and into displays.

    Worth it.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

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    FWIW, there are pretty large galleries involving Buddhist temple art and Tang dynasty, Ming Dynasty architecture with a complete Ming Dynasty Tomb on premises if you're interested in that kind of thing.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

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    Knights at the John & Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota FL

    Knights
    When: Feb 3, 2019 – Apr 21, 2019
    SPECIAL EXHIBITION FREE WITH MUSEUM ADMISSION
    Contact: 941-359-5700
    Where: Museum of Art
    Searing Galleries



    Drawn from the superb collections of the Stibbert Museum in Florence, Italy, this extraordinary exhibition reveals the figure of the European knight in the Middle Ages and Renaissance through over 100 exquisite objects, including full suits of armor, helmets, swords, and other weaponry. The exhibition explores the function, history and craftsmanship of these exquisite objects, focusing on themes of love and war, jousts and tournaments, and the 19th-century revival of interest in medieval knighthood. A fully-illustrated catalogue will be available.

    This exhibition was organized by Contemporanea Progetti in collaboration with the Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy.

    Support for this exhibition was generously provided, in part, by the Arthur F. and Ulla R. Searing Endowment, the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation Endowment, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation.

    Paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues.
    Another exhibit from the Museo Stibbert in Florence, which I visited last August. The last one was Knights in Armor at the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA, which I was hoping to get to but did not.

    I've been tracking Arms & Armor Museum Exhibits and this Knights at the John & Mabel Ringling Museum of Art sounds like another good one.
    Gene Ching
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    Arms & Armor Museum Exhibits

    All Current Exhibitions The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I
    At The Met Fifth Avenue
    OCTOBER 7, 2019–JANUARY 5, 2020
    Buy Tickets Exhibitions are free with Museum admission.


    Exhibition Catalogue
    This lavish catalogue is the first to examine the singular masterworks that were commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I.

    Exhibition Overview
    The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I examines the profound significance of European armor at the dawn of the Renaissance, through the lens of Emperor Maximilian I's (1459–1519) remarkable life. On view only at The Met, The Last Knight coincides with the five-hundredth anniversary of Maximilian's death, and is the most ambitious North American loan exhibition of European arms and armor in decades. Including 180 objects selected from some thirty public and private collections in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, The Last Knight will explore how Maximilian's unparalleled passion for the trappings and ideals of knighthood served his boundless worldly ambitions, imaginative stratagems, and resolute efforts to forge a lasting personal and family legacy.

    This exhibition features many works of art on view outside Europe for the first time, including Maximilian's own sumptuous armors that highlight his patronage of the greatest European armorers of his age, as well as related manuscripts, paintings, sculpture, glass, tapestry, and toys, all of which emphasize the emperor's dynastic ambitions and the centrality of chivalry at the imperial court and beyond.

    Accompanied by a catalogue and an Audio Guide.

    "A remarkable array of paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, tapestry, stained glass and related art places the armor in a stirring biographical and artistic context. . . . these manifold riches invite multiple visits."—Wall Street Journal
    The exhibition is made possible by Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder.

    Additional support is provided by Alice Cary Brown and W.L. Lyons Brown, the Estate of Ralph L. Riehle, the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund, Kathleen and Laird Landmann, Marica and Jan Vilcek, and Christian and Florence Levett.

    The exhibition is supported by an Indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

    The catalogue is made possible by the Grancsay Fund, The Carl Otto von Kienbusch Memorial Fund, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

    On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 899
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    The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I At The Met Fifth Avenue

    Arms & Armor Museum Exhibits
    Gene Ching
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    Samurai Art Museum

    I saw this full page ad in the latest issue of Arts of Asia. If I ever get to Berlin...



    Clayallee 225 D
    Entrance to Villa Clay
    14195 Berlin-Zehlendorf

    Oskar-Helene-Heim underground station

    Tel. Info during opening hours:
    +49 30 213 00 27 80
    kontakt@samurai-artmuseum.com
    www.samurai-artmuseum.com
    Here's some images from their site:









    Gene Ching
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    Our latest exclusive web article

    When in Paris...READ Arms & Armor Museums: Musée de l Armée, Paris, France by Gene Ching

    Gene Ching
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    Sakabato Shinuchi: Reverse blade Katana

    Real-life Rurouni Kenshin reverse-blade sword to be displayed in Tokyo
    Casey Baseel days ago



    The sakabato’s journey brings it to Japan’s eastern capital, just like the anime swordsman’s did.

    Himura Kenshin, protagonist of the Rurouni Kenshin anime/manga, famously wields a reverse-edged sword called a sakabato. The reason why is pretty easy to see from a storytelling perspective: Being unsharpened along the regular cutting edge for a katana lets Kenshin swing his sakabato with speed and strength in duels without drawing blood or killing his opponent. Having the inner edge sharpened, though, also provides a constant temptation to resort to deadly violence, and a means by which to show Kenshin’s honorable resolution in overcoming it as part of his path to redemption after years as a feared killer.

    In real life 19th-century Japan, however, people in the market for a sword didn’t have the luxury of choosing a weapon that sacrificed sharpness in order to accentuate their troubled personal backstory, and so no real-world sakabato existed. Well, at least none existed until recently, when Japanese swordsmith Kanekuni Ogawa created one, called the Sakabato Shinuchi (meaning “Sakabato Truly Forged”)

    ▼ Kanekuni Ogawa


    Based in the town of Seki, which has been known for its swordsmiths for centuries, Ogawa is so talented that he, personally, has been awarded the title of “important tangible cultural property” by the city. Upon the sword’s completion, it was exhibited in the Meijimura historical building park in Aichi Prefecture, in connection with Rurouni Kenshin being set in the Meiji period of Japanese history.

    Now, though, just as the emperor of Japan moved from Kyoto to Tokyo in the Meiji period, so too is the Sakabato Shinuchi coming to the capital, where it will be displayed from April 24.

    Even for those who’ve never read the manga or watched the anime (Ogawa himself had never seen either before taking on the project), the Sakabato Shinuchi is a striking piece, and has a singular beauty among Japanese swords. Because its blade is on the other side of where it would be on a normal katana, the real-life sakabato also has completely unique hamon (tempering marks), with the undulation being more prevalent along the inner curve of the flat.

    ▼ Sakabato Shinuchi, during its display at Meijimura



    As is customary for swords in Japan, the Sakabato Shinuchi will be displayed without a handle. This is done because the nakago (the part of the hilt that extends into the handle) is where Japanese swordsmiths inscribe their names, though in the case of the Sakabato Shinuchi, Ogawa has instead carved the death poem of Arai Shakku, the smith who forged Kenshin’s sakabato in the anime, since that’s what’s on the nakago in the source material.



    The sword will be displayed as part of the travelling Ruruni Kenshin Exhibition, celebrating the franchise’s 25th anniversary. The Tokyo exhibition will take place from April 24 to June 7 at Gallery AaMo, part of the Tokyo Dome City complex adjacent to Tokyo Dome, with tickets available online here.

    Event information
    Rurouni Kenshin Exhibition / るろうに剣心展
    Venue: Gallery AaMo / ギャラリー アーモ
    Address: Tokyo-to, Bunkyo-ku, Koraku 1-3-61
    東京都文京区後楽1丁目3−61
    website
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    Gene Ching
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    Our Latest Feature

    Love Ancient Weapons? READ Arms & Armor Museums: Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy by Gene Ching

    Gene Ching
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    The Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection


    Comb Morion, 1556–1586, Hans Hörburger the Elder (Austrian, active 1556–1586), steel, brass and leather fragments, The John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, 2014.1094.

    The Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum
    Beginning November 6 | Levis Gallery

    Suits of armor, and the warriors who wore them, have fueled the human imagination since they first appeared in the ancient world. The Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum, explores how these compelling exoskeletons have been used in various forms around the globe, from antiquity to modern times. The Worcester Art Museum’s Higgins Armory Collection is the one of the largest collections of arms and armor in the United States.

    Full suits of articulated steel plates were made only briefly in Europe’s golden age of armor during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The exhibition examines how armor played an important role in the military, technological and cultural life of societies throughout history.

    The first section of the exhibition begins with ancient Greece, when stylish body armor expressed the warrior’s personal taste and social standing, while increasing his chances of survival on the battlefield. Section two details how, by the Middle Ages, knights with expensive iron coats of mail, as well as swords, lances and horses came to dominate the battlefield. Sections three and four examine the craft of armor-making as it evolved in several European cities and the innovation of armorers, who developed full suits of steel for a range of purposes, including wartime applications and ceremonial uses. The exhibition’s final two sections recount how the rise of firearms impacted armor design from 1500 to 1700, and that a renewed interest in medieval armor as collectibles developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.

    The Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum is organized by the Worcester Art Museum and is sponsored locally by presenting sponsors Susan and Tom Palmer and Taylor Cadillac, as well as Exhibition Program sponsor ProMedica, with additional support from the McLoughlin Family Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.


    Tickets are required for entry. TMA Members receive free admission.
    Coming to the Toledo Museum of Art
    2445 Monroe Street
    Toledo, OH 43620

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    Samurai Splendor: Sword Fittings from Edo Japan



    EXHIBITION
    Samurai Splendor: Sword Fittings from Edo Japan
    March 21, 2022 – Spring 2024
    Now on view at The Met Fifth Avenue , 380
    Exhibitions are free with Museum admission.

    After almost a century and a half of near-constant civil war and political upheaval, Japan unified under a new ruling family, the Tokugawa, in the early 1600s. Their reign lasted for more than 250 years, in an era referred to as the Edo period, after the town of Edo (present-day Tokyo) that became the new capital of Japan. The Tokugawa regime brought economic growth, prolonged peace, and widespread enjoyment of the arts and culture. The administration also imposed strict class separation and rigid regulations for all. As a result, the ruling class—with the shogun as governing military official, the daimyo as local feudal lords, and the samurai as their retainers—had only a few ways to display personal taste in public. Fittings and accessories for their swords, which were an indispensable symbol of power and authority, became a critical means of self-expression and a focal point of artistic creation.

    This installation explores the luxurious aspects of Edo-period sword fashion, a fascinating form of arms and armor rarely featured in exhibitions outside Japan. It presents a selection of exquisite sword mountings, fittings, and related objects, including maker’s sketchbooks—all drawn from The Met collection and many rarely or never exhibited before.

    This exhibition is made possible by the Vilcek Foundation.
    Wish I was there...
    Gene Ching
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