Ema Mugs
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Description: Ema votive horses were carved to carry prayers to places humans could not reach. These two are lacquered black with the geometric economy of objects built for function first and beauty as a consequence — decorated panels at the flank, pink ears, the larger horse carrying something in a gold chest that is not explained and does not need to be. Japanese Shinto folk craft documented with the visual logic of a tradition that believed a carved horse was a real horse if you needed it to be. They are still standing. They are still going somewhere.
