Tang: ceramics, metalwork and sculpture
21 October - 6 November, 2021
Eskenazi Limited is delighted to hold an exhibition entirely devoted to rare works of art including ceramics, sculpture and metalwork from the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 AD), often called the golden age of Chinese culture. This is only the second time that Eskenazi has held an exhibition covering a wide range of material, solely dedicated to the Tang Dynasty. The first was in 1987. Notable highlights of this 2021 exhibition include a magnificent and monumental dry lacquer head of a bodhisattva, one of only three known surviving examples of this kind and a rare sancai-glazed zodiac animal figure with a human body and an equine head
Large Dry Lacquer Head of a Bodhisattva
Tang dynasty, 8th century
This magnificent and monumental dry lacquer head of a bodhisattva is a rare survival from the Tang dynasty. The hollow-core dry lacquer sculptural technique was used in China for a short period around the sixth to eighth centuries, mostly by specialised workshops to create specially commissioned sculptures for wealthy and elite patrons. The technique was labour-intensive and costly. A clay model was created of the sculpture, then textile strips were soaked in lacquer and built up in carefully dried layers over the sculpture. The clay core was removed once the sculpture was completed. This is one of three monumental and highly important lacquer heads – the other two a bodhisattva head and a head of Buddha - which were handled and published by the dealers Yamanaka and Company in 1930.
Height: 43.3cm