Makuri Two Playful Puppies

Two young dogs, tangled together in play – this unmounted painting captures a moment that is rarely rendered so directly and humorously in Japanese animal depictions. The work exists as a Makuri, meaning without mounting, on the original Honshi, the support material of the painting itself. This form allows the work to be newly mounted according to individual taste, for instance as a Kakemono or a framed picture.

With loose brushwork, the fur and movement of the two puppies are captured, without the depiction slipping into excessive detail. It is precisely this lightness that constitutes the appeal of the sheet. Depictions of dogs are rarer in Japanese painting than, for instance, birds or flowers, and are therefore a welcome, fresh subject for collectors looking beyond the common motifs.