Horse

About this work

Carved in hinoki cypress and finished with lacquer and mineral pigments, this compact figure distills the vitality of the horse—uma, the sixth sign of the zodiac—into a rounded, assured volume. Rooted in the yosegi-zukuri joined-wood technique traditional to Japanese Buddhist sculpture, the form carries a subtle humor in its expression and posture. Decades of research in the conservation and restoration of sacred wooden statuary inform the precise yet animated modeling that gives this small-scale work its quiet authority.