exhibitions
Samurai: The Way of the Warrior
April 21–July 23, Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries
Samurai: The Way of the Warrior presents a selection
of more than ninety objects from one of the most
important collections of Japanese arms and armor
outside of Japan. The exhibition includes armor,
lacquered objects, helmets, swords, sword guards,
saddles, stirrups, arrows, quivers, and bows from the
Museo Stibbert in Florence, Italy.
The styles and craftsmanship of Japanese artisans on
view manifest the moral, cultural, and aesthetic codes
of the military class. Each object reflects the identity,
taste, and status of individual owners, and together
they provide an unusual perspective on one of the great
antiquarian assemblages of nineteenth-century Europe.
The exhibition is organized by Contemporanea Progetti
SRL with the Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy.
Helmet with tufts of horsehair and buffalo horn (detail), beginning of 19th century, steel, gilded
copper, boiled leather, wood, leather, horsehair, lacquer, silk, Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy.
Katana (sword), end of 16th–beginning of 17th century,
red oak wood, boxwood, rosewood, ebony, ivory, horn,
tortoise, malachite, mother-of-pearl, blade: 35 ½ in.,
tsuba: 3 ¼ x 3 x ¼ in., Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy.