“Horses are a superb creation… charged with symbolism, strength, dynamism and beauty” signed and stamped to lower right and lower left TSUNENOBU each screen is 66 x 144 inches Strong and steady calligraphy strokes in black ink is hand drawn on a neutral background, translating the simplicity of playful horses and their dynamic energy. Hang on wall, use as a backdrop for a couch, bed or home office or tea room China originally introduced horse paintings to Japan; the works typically focused on capturing the essence of horses in their various environments and often involved integrating human figures into the images. The Kano school was closely aligned with the Samurai class. Often, their paintings of horses abandoned the scenes and customs of ordinary life—no longer were the horses strictly classifiable as war horses, pack horses, or draught horses; the horses were no longer tied to the customs of daily life. The Samurai, who lived in a closed and rigid hierarchical society established by the Shogunate, favoured the energy and freedom horses symbolise; Kano school artists commonly depicted the equine creatures as they are here, in unfettered and carefree family groups.