Japanese Works of Art - 12th November 2019
Lot 272
A RARE JAPANESE IRON HORSE MUZZLE
Estimate £8,000 - £12,000 | Hammer £16000
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Description
A RARE JAPANESE IRON HORSE MUZZLE, KUCHIKAGO
EDO PERIOD, 16TH CENTURY
In two halves with openwork designs, the upper half decorated with two family crests with paulownia leaves and flowers, kiri mon, one side with a monkey wearing a Shinto priest's hat and holding a Shinto wand with zig-zagging paper streamers, onusa, the other side with a Japanese nightingale, uguisu, with a band of further kiri mon in between, the lower half left undecorated, 26.5cm long.
Provenance: formerly the collection of Kyoto Arashiyama Museum.
Cf. I Bottomley & A P Hopson, Arms & Armour of the Samurai, p.10, where this horse muzzle illustrated.
Monkeys were often used as decoration on equine equipment as they were thought to protect horses from diseases.