Eskenazi’s annual exhibition in New York will feature just twelve major ancient Chinese bronzes and sculptures at PaceWildenstein, 32 East 57th Street, 7th floor, New York 10022, from Monday 28 March to Saturday 9 April 2005.  The pieces range in date from the Shang period (c.1300–1027 BC), the first documented Chinese dynasty and the great age of bronze casting, to the glorious ceramic age of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD).

 Among these remarkable pieces are two elaborate bronze vessels cast some 3,000 years ago.  The earliest in date and the most important is a bronze you and cover of the Shang period.  The you was used as a wine container in rituals connected with religious and political activities.  This large vessel measures 40.5 cm to the top of the handle and is exceptionally well and crisply cast with large-beaked birds, dragons, cicadas and fierce animal masks sporting large horns, bulbous eyes and snouts.  In spite of its age, we know the name of the person who commissioned this impressive object as the vessel and cover are both cast with nine emblematic characters that translate as: “Xiang was presented with a monetary reward (which he) used to cast a vessel in memory of his father”.

 Another remarkable bronze is the ding (ritual food vessel) dating from some 500 years later, the Spring and Autumn Period, 770-476 BC.  It contrasts with the you in that it is extremely delicate and light in weight.  The wide, shallow bowl is supported on three legs and is finely cast with a dense overlapping scale pattern enclosed by a border while the handles are each decorated with a pair of curled snakes in high relief.

 From the Warring States period, 475-221 BC, come three elaborate garment hooks, one made of gilt and silvered bronze decorated with jade and coloured glass - a rather unusual feature - and two of iron which is hardly visible as it is so richly inlaid with jade, silver and gold relief decoration.  These magnificent and luxurious items may not have been intended for daily use but simply for display as important possessions or perhaps for burial with the owner.  Varying in length between 15.4 cm and 22 cm, the extravagant decoration of the three hooks incorporates motifs including an owl with talons grasping a pair of leaping antelope, dragons and animal masks.

 Very different in spirit is the later group of Buddhist sculptures in stone, wood and ceramic, several of which depict the Buddha.  The wood sculpture is an exceptionally elegant Bodhisattva of the Song period, 960-1279 AD, seated in the position of rajalilasana or royal ease, a relaxed but upright pose with the left leg pendant and the right arm resting on the raised right knee.  The figure is carved with flowing draperies, necklaces and chains of beads, as befits this particular deity and the surface is still covered with areas of fabric, gesso and extensive remains of pigments. 

Amongst the stone pieces is a grey limestone stele of the late Northern Wei Period, 6th century AD, carved in high relief on one side with the Buddha, whose full face is set in a contemplative expression, flanked by Bodhisattvas, and on the reverse with the same scene very finely incised.  Such steles emerged during this period as an important sculptural medium and were erected by Buddhist devotional societies comprising monks, nuns and lay members.  This example bears a most interesting inscription listing the donors and indicating where it would have been placed in the temple.

 An exquisitely carved limestone figure of Buddha from the Northern Qi period, 550-577 AD, with gilded face and feet, depicts him wearing a diaphanous robe with long sleeves, the back and front showing extensive traces of fine black outlines, red pigment and gold, the remnants of a grid of rectangular panels depicting Buddhist scenes.  This fine figure belongs to a specific group of sculptures decorated with Buddhist scenes on the robes that often appear to show the five or six Realms of Rebirth, also referred to as the Dharma Fields or the Spheres of Existence.

 The glazed stoneware Guanyin is also of exceptional interest as it bears the name of the person who made it, a rare feature, as well as the date it was made - 1500 - which is in the middle of the Ming dynasty.  It is beautifully modelled with a quizzical lion at his feet, glazed in rich green and amber, and would certainly have been placed in a temple.