European hound and puppies playing with a saddle

Puppies pull playfully on the stirrup leather of a ceremonial lacquered-wood saddle resting on a black lacquer stand. The elaborately decorated flanchards protect the horse from the rider's iron stirrups. The imported hounds--a subject not known before the Momoyama period--and martial gear are the accoutrements of a wealthy daimyo, and together they form a masculine counterpart to the popular seventeenth-century theme of Tagasode (Whose Sleeves), women's robes draped over kimono racks. The wealth of the absent owner is suggested also by the attention to precious details, such as the dog's bejewelled collar.