Two Horses 馬二匹 | Kusumi Morikage 久住守景 | 1620-1690 (Dates not fully confirmed)

Kusumi Morikage is one of those painters whose works have reached the category of "National Treasure". The "cultural treasure" from the Tokyo National Museum cited below is considered by art historians to be a turning point in Japanese painting. Morikage – of rather stubborn character – broke away from the all-dominant Kanō school and went to the countryside as one of the first painters, where he sought his pictorial motifs in the real life of the peasants.

This small precious picture, however, is based on artistic models. To design the contours of two horses – legs, back and belly – almost musically rhythmically with a few elegant brushstrokes, corresponds to the classical Chinese tradition of representation, which was cultivated by various Japanese painters.

The signature and seal of the picture are reliable. The picture had to be extensively restored and is newly mounted. In this way, it has regained its original brilliance.