WORKS OF ART FROM INDIA, CHINA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA.
An exhibition for sale at our London gallery -Thursday 7th to Friday 29th November 2002.
We are delighted to present the catalogue for this year’s exhibition, to be held at our gallery from the 7th-29th November 2002 as part of the Asian Art in London events.
This year’s offerings place great emphasis upon the human form and encompass a wide range of media, epochs, countries and styles. We have gone to great lengths to acquire works of art for this year’s exhibition that are not only beautiful and important, but are also unusual examples of their type. Our two magnificent Northern Qi sculptures, for example, will strike a chord with anyone who visited and marvelled at the recent Royal Academy exhibition of sculptures from Qingzhou. The monumental Khmer, eight-armed ‘radiating’ Avalokitesvara in the exhibition is one of only a dozen or so examples of its type and the two exquisite gold figures from Si Thep and Pagan number among a handful of such images to have survived. Our taste for the unusual is to be found, once again, in the pair of wonderful Tangut guardians and in the section from an embroidered coat, embroidered so beautifully that some vain, pious Kashmiri prince surely must have owned it. Superb, smiling, serene Buddhas from Burma, Thailand and Laos, as well as from Tang and Song China, all figure in the exhibition, as does a group of seals from the very beginnings of Indian art- the Indus Valley civilization. This year’s event will also coincide with the launch of Jonathan’s new book, ‘The Silk Road- Art and History’, to be published by Philip Wilson Ltd in November. This book, a complete history of the Silk Road with over 400 illustrations, is the result of seven years of travel and research to the remotest parts of the old trade routes between China and Europe.
We both look forward to welcoming you to our gallery for this year’s exhibition and would be delighted to answer any questions you may have, either before or during the event.
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 Radiating Avalokitesvara Current and Past Exhibitions
Radiating Avalokitesvara KhmerAngkor period, Bayon style, Late 12th/ Early 13th centuryH. 110 cm, 43 ½ ins.A monumental sandstone figure of an eight-armed radiating Avalokitesvara, muscular and powerful, the hair, upper torso and arms covered in minute representations of the Buddha and with seated figures of Prajnaparamita (the Goddess of Transcendent Wisdom) on the chest, stomach and lower back; the face beatific beneath a raised chignon bearing a seated figure of Amitabha, wearing a short pleated sampot with a broad fishtail at the front.These images are believed to represent the Khmer ruler Jayavarman VII. There are celebrated examples of this type in both the Bangkok National Museum and the Musée Guimet, with only one other large version appearing in the art market in recent years [see M. Lerner, Ancient Khmer Sculpture, Chinese Porcelain Company exhibition catalogue, New York, 1994]. According to Lerner (ibid.), there are fewer than a dozen known examples of this type.
|  Pair of stucco heads Current and Past Exhibitions
Pair of stucco heads.China, probably from Shanxi province.Ming dynasty, 1368-1644 AD. H. 8 ins, 20cm.A striking pair of female stucco heads, their faces calm with eyes peering brightly from beneath arched brows; the hair painted blue and modelled into coils, with gilt headdresses elaborately rendered with curling tendrils and brightly painted shapes representing jewels.The mountainous, rugged terrain and dry climate of Shanxi province, with its numerous monasteries and temples, helped to preserve many such sculptures from damage by war and nature.
|  Pair of lacquer panels Current and Past Exhibitions, Current and Past Exhibitions
Pair of lacquer panels.Chinese.Kangxi period, 1662-1722.H. 26 ½ ins, 67.5 cm. W. 14 ins, 35.5 cm. A pair of black lacquered wooden panels, each brightly painted in polychrome and gilt enamels with a garden landscape of people seated in pavilions among lakes, bridges and mountains; each framed in its original gilded lacquer frame with brass fittings.Provenance: Collection of Derek Clifford.
|  Pair of Guardian Figures Current and Past Exhibitions
Pair of Guardian Figures.China, probably from Ningxia province.Western Xia (Xixia), Tangut Kingdom, circa 12th century.H. 13 ½ ins, 34cmAn exceptionally rare pair of red sandstone tomb guardians, each with bulging eyes and a humorous expression, crouching with lotuses balanced upon their heads. From the time of their establishment as an independent state in 982, until their subjugation by the Mongols around 1227, the Xixia (Western Xia or Tanguts) flourished as a commercial power. Their revenues were derived from taxes, levied upon merchants travelling along the section of the Silk Road within the great curve of the Yellow River- a large part of modern Gansu province. The Xixia were devout Buddhists, their artistic creations heavily influenced by Tibet. Examples of Tangut tomb guardians are scarce but a pair of similar figures- one male and one female- are illustrated in Shi Jinbo, Xi Xia Wen Wu, 1988 [ISBN no. 7-5010-0049-2].
|  Kashmir robe fragment Current and Past Exhibitions
Kashmir robe fragment.India, Kashmir.circa 1840.H. 24 ins, 61 cm.W. 16 ¾ ins, 42.5 cm.An exquisite woollen textile fragment, originally the back section of a prince’s robe, the ivory ground embroidered in exceptional detail in polychrome threads, the central section depicting two figures seated together beneath a canopy, cooled by a servant with a fan to the right and a pair of Hanuman figures approaching to the left; another enthroned figure beneath, all set within a border of kneeling figures, some winged, to either side a seated Ganesha supported by a large rat; an undulating serpent headed ribbon linking niches with figures, finally a lobed palmette embroidered in similar extravagant detail with a pair of figures, one winged, the design culminating in a hanging boteh with upturned ends surrounded with birds. To each side and to the top the sleeve border edging remains.
|  Kashmir robe fragment Current and Past Exhibitions
Kashmir robe fragment.India, Kashmir.circa 1840.H. 16 ins, 40.7 cm.W. 9 7/8 ins, 25.3 cm.Four exquisitely embroidered border sections from a prince’s robe, each depicting various figures; two smoking a hookah, one man on a horse, another with a gun, a lady carrying a peacock surrounded by other animals, several seated in armchairs and others bearing gifts, the costumes and fine detail beautifully executed in colourful threads on an ivory woollen ground. Other panels available.
|  Chicken Wing Wood (jichimu) table Current and Past Exhibitions
Chicken Wing Wood (jichimu) table.China.Qing dynasty, 18th century.L. 55 ins, 140 cm.H. 32 ½ ins, 82.5 cm.W. 14 1/8 ins, 36 cm.A double sided Chicken Wing Wood (jichimu) table of rectangular form, the plain board top dovetailed to the end sections each of which has two rectangular openings decorated, inside and outside, with highly stylised dragons and geometric scrolling motifs; the legs finishing in scrolled feet, the spandrels elaborately designed with geometric cloud and dragon motif and the apron exquisitely carved with twisted ‘rope and ring’ design.Provenance: Private English Collection.Purchased at Spink and Son in 1995.The realistic carving of the ‘rope and ring’ design can be compared to a table illustrated as plate 76 in Tian Jiaqing, Classic Chinese Furniture of the Qing dynasty, London, Philip Wilson, 1996.
|  A kain songket limar ceremonial shawl. Current and Past Exhibitions
A kain songket limar ceremonial shawl. Palembang, South Sumatra.early to mid 20th century. L. 78 ins, 198 cm.W. 28 ¼ ins, 72cm.A kain limar ceremonial shawl, the badan centrefield tie dyed in a variety of colours including yellow, red, aubergine, green and blue, the design possibly depicting the wings and the tail of the mythical garuda bird, at each end the punca borders comprising four decorative borders each showing predominantly floral designs of varying intensity elaborately woven in supplementary weft songket technique with benang emas gold thread.The favourite maroon red of traditional songket is known as merah pulasan (the red of the Pulasan fruit – a wild type of rambutan) or merah ikan (the red of the blood of fish). For a shawl of similar design see plate 36 in Sylvia Fraser-Lu Handwoven Textiles of South-east Asia, Oxford University Press, 1988.
|  A kain songket lepus ceremonial shawl Current and Past Exhibitions
A kain songket lepus ceremonial shawl. Palembang, South Sumatra.early to mid 20th century. L. 84 ins, 213 cm.W. 33 ¼ ins, 84.5cm.A stunning kain lepus selendang ceremonial shawl, the rich maroon-red silk ground elaborately woven in supplementary weft songket technique with benang emas gold thread, the badan centrefield filled with striking bunga sinar matahari ‘rays of the sun’ motif interspersed with small bintang stars and octagonal rhomboid shapes and surrounded by an interlocking rantai formation of large loose tendrils; at either end the two broad punca borders each composed of four detailed sections; the tepi hujung punca of floral design, the badan punca of dense floral and star design, the kepala punca dominated by strong triangular motifs and the tepi tutup kepala; the tepi kaki side borders showing simple floral design.Valuable silks and gold fabrics became a sign of prosperity and power within the royal houses of Southeast Asia. Known literally as ‘cloths of gold’ (kain songket lepus) these exquisite silks typify the kind of textiles sought after. For two similar examples in the Australian National Gallery, see figures 257 and 258, page 181, Robyn Maxwell, Textiles of Southeast Asia – Tradition, Trade and Transformation, Oxford University Press, 1990.
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