About This Project

Decorative Horse

This is a decorative horse with a Chinese-style saddle, and was entered in the first Urushi-e Exhibit in 1937. It is a relief Urushi Artwork that employs a burnishing technique with gold and silver dry Urushi powders. I obtained a rare book entitled “Saddle Almanac,” by Sadatake Ise, and the book was very handy for my artwork. This book is a copy of the original, submitted by Kanazawa-bunnko Library to the 8th Shogun Yoshimune at the request of Yoshimune, and even copies are treated as having historical value. After 35 years since the completion, the silver relief had tarnished to black, and the dark silver lines have changed the tone of the artwork.