Roman Military Ceremonial Mask and Helmet, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Suit of mail and lemallar armor for an elephant, Mughal Empire, 17th-18th century
from The Royal Armouries Collection
Hungarian swords, 14th century, at the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul. The middle sword is 8ft long
damn how hungry were they
Italian rapier, circa 1600
from Czerny's International Auction House
Arms and Armour (1911) Auguste Demmin
Bronze sword with gold covered hilt, Minoan, 1400-1375 BC
from The Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete
Bronze armor set, Greece, 7th-4th century BC
from Christies
The Conyers falchion, a ceremonial sword presented to the Bishops of Durham, England, circa 1260-1270.
from The Durham Cathedral Museum
Etched burgonet, southern Germany, circa 1590
from Czerny's International Auction House
Silver inlaid helmet, Iran, circa 1500
from The Victoria & Albert Museum
Helmet in the form of a stylish hat, France, 17th century
from Czerny's International Auction House
Flame helmet representing the Flaming Jewel, Japan, circa 1630
from The Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum
Etched and gilded ceremonial armor from Dresden, Germany, circa 1580
from The State Art Collection, Dresden
‘Warrior takes an armored cat for a walk’ (着甲武人猫散歩逍遥図) by Noguchi Tetsuya, 2014. Image widely shared on social media.
There's an image that's been shared on social media dozens of times over the past few years, typically without attribution. The image depicts a shoeless samurai walking an armored cat. The samurai has a helmet with cat ears, and the image appears to be weathered and old, perhaps dating back to Medieval Japan.
In reality, the paint is the creation of Japanese artist Tetsuya Noguchi, whose specialty is to depict samurai in bizarre, often comic situations.
He appears to have mastered traditional techniques to create highly-detailed replica armor that would not be out of place in a museum.
Writing for web magazine artscape Japan, which covers Japan's art scene, Alan Gleason dubbed the style “samurai surrealism”. He explains: ''Every few years an artist gains cachet with pictures of hamburger-munching geishas and the like, painted in the fashion of ukiyoe or Nihonga. Though the gimmick is fun the first time, after a while it gets pretty predictable — good for a laugh or two, but hardly the trenchant commentary on “traditional vs. modern” that the artist usually proclaims it to be. The best practitioners of this genre (Masami Teraoka comes to mind) make it work not because of the obvious satire, but because of their mastery of the classical art form used to set up the spoof. And once in a while the artist's technique is so exquisite that it elevates the work entirely out of the realm of parody, however droll the subject matter. Tetsuya Noguchi's work is just such an example.''
- Info from Animals in Art through History.
Armour of Henry II, King of France, circa 1555
From the Met Museum