Post by erink on Oct 4, 2012 12:55:49 GMT -5
Hey, so some of my friends and I went to the great white north in September to see two armor exhibits:
pacmusee.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/samurai-the-prestigious-collection-of-richard-beliveau
www.mcq.org/en/mcq/expositions.php?idEx=w3387
Alas, neither exhibit allowed photos, but I did get the catalog for the Beliveau exhibit. There doesn't seem to be one for the Barbier-Mueller exhibit.
The Beliveau collection was largely Edo and later, though there were a few pieces that are older. (Unfortunately neither collection was well documented in terms of dates - why? It's kind of important!) I learned about different scale patterns (certain armor makers had different ways they liked to group the multi-scale plates so you can identify armor that way) and that indigo was favored as a lacing dye because it didn't weaken the threads. There were many awesome things. (When did hinged do's come into play? Why is the fabric in the armor lining so much busier than the fabric you see on clothes?) We may try revising our approach to mounting sashimono based on what we saw there.
The Barbier-Mueller collection was about five times larger and more phenomenal. (Not to slight Dr. Beliveau, he's done quite well for himself.) The Barbier-Mueller exhibit includes like 80 helms of practical and whimsical design. One had a functional pinwheel. (I was the one looking underneath to see the fittings.) It has horse armor. It had a pretty gun (but nothing to compare with the collection at the Tokyo museum). It has leg armor with gilt arabesque patterns, which the sign said was restricted to daimyo ('sa couple hours...). There was a do dented by bullets, in a case highlighting the differences in armor to handle firearms. Being mainly acquainted with SCA interpretations of Japanese armor, I had not realized that chain mesh was used so liberally, or that sode sleeves are thickly padded. I also "discovered" a cute little bracket that attaches to the back of your shoulder armor and ties to the ring mid-back to keep it from sliding forward.
The Beliveau exhibit (in Montreal) also had a collection of tea artifacts and some art-related things. There was text about how after the samurai were done having wars all the time (around 1600) it was decided they should focus on gentle arts like tea and ikebana and calligraphy, and they should study religion more seriously. Interesting if this is truly a post-period trend. (My interpretation: flower arranging is the Japanese version of the European crusades - solving the need to find warriors something nondestructive to do!
So, if you have the opportunity to see either or both of these exhibits, they are very cool. And if you don't, check out the websites or find me and pick my brain about the kind of stuff I saw there. Because it was really awesome but a little hard to explain in a forum post!
pacmusee.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/samurai-the-prestigious-collection-of-richard-beliveau
www.mcq.org/en/mcq/expositions.php?idEx=w3387
Alas, neither exhibit allowed photos, but I did get the catalog for the Beliveau exhibit. There doesn't seem to be one for the Barbier-Mueller exhibit.
The Beliveau collection was largely Edo and later, though there were a few pieces that are older. (Unfortunately neither collection was well documented in terms of dates - why? It's kind of important!) I learned about different scale patterns (certain armor makers had different ways they liked to group the multi-scale plates so you can identify armor that way) and that indigo was favored as a lacing dye because it didn't weaken the threads. There were many awesome things. (When did hinged do's come into play? Why is the fabric in the armor lining so much busier than the fabric you see on clothes?) We may try revising our approach to mounting sashimono based on what we saw there.
The Barbier-Mueller collection was about five times larger and more phenomenal. (Not to slight Dr. Beliveau, he's done quite well for himself.) The Barbier-Mueller exhibit includes like 80 helms of practical and whimsical design. One had a functional pinwheel. (I was the one looking underneath to see the fittings.) It has horse armor. It had a pretty gun (but nothing to compare with the collection at the Tokyo museum). It has leg armor with gilt arabesque patterns, which the sign said was restricted to daimyo ('sa couple hours...). There was a do dented by bullets, in a case highlighting the differences in armor to handle firearms. Being mainly acquainted with SCA interpretations of Japanese armor, I had not realized that chain mesh was used so liberally, or that sode sleeves are thickly padded. I also "discovered" a cute little bracket that attaches to the back of your shoulder armor and ties to the ring mid-back to keep it from sliding forward.
The Beliveau exhibit (in Montreal) also had a collection of tea artifacts and some art-related things. There was text about how after the samurai were done having wars all the time (around 1600) it was decided they should focus on gentle arts like tea and ikebana and calligraphy, and they should study religion more seriously. Interesting if this is truly a post-period trend. (My interpretation: flower arranging is the Japanese version of the European crusades - solving the need to find warriors something nondestructive to do!
So, if you have the opportunity to see either or both of these exhibits, they are very cool. And if you don't, check out the websites or find me and pick my brain about the kind of stuff I saw there. Because it was really awesome but a little hard to explain in a forum post!