• Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 1 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 2 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 3 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 4 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 5 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 6 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 7 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 8 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 9 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 10 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 11 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 12 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 13 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 14 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 15 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 16 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 17 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 18 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 19 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 20 of 21
  • Carved wooden votive horse (shinme) from a Shinto shrine, on an inscribed Meiji-period base, view 21 of 21
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Shinme

Shinme

1,800
1,800
Sale Sold

Votive sculpture dedicated at a Shinto shrine, likely in Niigata prefecture. In Shinto belief, horses serve as mounts for the kami, and such figures were offered to shrines as substitutes for living horses. Shinme are shown riderless, as the kami are not given a physical form. Wear across the back suggests straw or cloth was laid on as a symbolic saddle.

The replacement base bears a handwritten inscription dated 22 July, Meiji 37 (1904) along with the characters for Niigata prefecture.

Late Edo period, Japan; Meiji-period base (1904)
Wood
57 cm width x 32 cm depth x 55 cm height (22 ½" x 12 ½" x 21 ½")
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Shinme