Asian Art News

AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN BRONZES AND CHINESE TOMB SCULPTURES

AN EXHIBITION FOR SALE

Friday 16th March

to

Monday 26th March 2012


Venue:

Arader Galleries

1016 Madison Avenue,

3rd Floor

New York 10075

U.S.A.

Contact details during the exhibition:

T. (212) 628 7625

M +44 7968 025 742

email: jonathantucker1@aol.com


Opening Hours: Daily 10 – 6pm


Open House Weekend 17th and 18th March


10 – 6pm


For further information and detailed images please contact Jonathan Tucker on 44 (0)20 7839 3414, e-mail jonathantucker1@aol.com


We are pleased to introduce our forthcoming exhibition, to be held during Asia Week New York from Friday 16th March to Monday 26th March 2012. All of the works of art will be on display at Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York City.


 

Our exhibition includes 38 Southeast Asian bronzes and Chinese pottery tomb figures from a single US West Coast collection. They were acquired over a period of about thirty years and all but a few of the pieces were on loan and permanent display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts from 1996 to 2010.


The exhibition includes twenty Southeast Asian works of art - predominantly bronze Buddhist figures and ritual objects from the ancient Dong Son period. The highlights include a rare example of a ‘Missionary Bronze’, an exceptionally beautiful standing Buddha from the late Amaravati School which probably travelled across Asia with early propagators of the faith. We also have a perfectly preserved, 16 ½ inch Mon-Dvaravati standing Buddha of exceptional quality; these two figures ranking among the best sculptures I have ever offered for sale. The exhibition also includes a number of smaller bronze Buddhas, both standing and seated, from various Indonesian islands and a charming Khmer pottery puffer-fish.


Dong Son bronze objects were produced from around 600 BC until the third century AD and have been found across a vast area of Southeast Asia. There are ten examples in this exhibition from all parts of the region, including drums, ritual weapons and bracelets.


Chinese mingqi (funerary objects) are strongly represented and include some of the best examples of this genre from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) to the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). Types of object range from vessels for ritual use, a spectacular Han dynasty watch-tower, a rare tripod lian with acrobats doing handstands on the rim, a superb large horse, court officials, entertainers, grooms and guardians. There is also a delightful gilt-bronze mat-weight in the form of a bear and a fine pair of gilded and polychrome wood figures of Guandi.


Antonia and I look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition and would be delighted to answer any questions you may have, either before or during the event.




2] Illustrated Map of the Silk Road by Jonathan Tucker.

Photography by Antonia Tozer



Made famous in the West by the adventurer Marco Polo, the ancient Silk Road spanned one-quarter of the circumference of the Earth. An intricate network of trading routes, in its heyday it stretched from Luoyang and Xi'an in China, through Central Asia to Istanbul and Rome, perhaps the first example of the globalisation of trade. Untold perils, both natural and man-made, awaited the hardy merchants and travellers who ventured along the Silk Road's many branches in search of profit, learning or simply adventure. Conquering armies, too, swept back and forth throughout the centuries of the Road's existence. All have left their mark in some way. Inside are four detailed maps of the Silk Road's arteries supplemented by 35 colour photographs and historical notes on key places and notable people.


Available in bookshops or for order from the publisher:


www.odysseypublications.com or click on the following link:


http://www.odysseypublications.com/publicationsPublication.php?publicationID=00097


3] ˜The Troublesome Priest: Harold Davidson, Rector of Stiffkey' by Jonathan Tucker.

Published by Michael Russell (Publishing) Ltd.
ISBN no. 978-0-85955-307-0.
Price £15.95 plus 1.50 UK p&p. Available from bookshops or the author:

jonathantucker1@aol.com


This new book is an account of one of the most extraordinary scandals of the 20th century. Its principal character was the Reverend Harold Francis Davidson MA (1875-1937), described by A.J.P. Taylor as a ˜parable of the age". Davidson was one of the most colourful and eccentric icons of the era and his fall, brought about by a combination of hubris, poor judgement and church politics, was truly spectacular. After studying for the priesthood Davidson enjoyed a brief theatrical career before being appointed vicar of the quiet North Norfolk coastal village of Stiffkey. He devoted only Saturdays and Sundays to his parish, spending his weekdays ministering to young theatre girls and prostitutes.


His neglect of his parishioners and his obsession with young girls was bound to lead to trouble and, in 1932, a complaint was made to the Bishop of Norwich by a 17 year-old called Barbara Harris. Davidson was investigated and charged with five counts of immorality under the Clergy Discipline Act. The trial began in March 1932 and created a sensation, displacing the rise of Hitler and the Japanese attack on Shanghai from the headlines.


He was convicted and publicly defrocked, spending the five remaining years of his life leading a bizarre, tragic existence trying to clear his name. He first had himself nailed into a barrel on the Blackpool Promenade, charging curious onlookers 2d. a look to raise money for his appeal. Other stunts followed but by late 1936 he was broke and decided to sign up with a lion act at the Skegness Amusement Park. In July 1937 one of them attacked him. Davidson was pulled from the cage (appropriately enough by a 16-year-old girl), but had broken a bone in his neck and died two days later.


Even after seventy years the story still arouses intense debate. The author has investigated claims by Davidson's family that he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice and discovered that there were grave anomalies in the trial.


4] 'The Silk Road: Art and History' by Jonathan Tucker



A celebration of the cultural heritage of the countries along the Silk Road, this book is a detailed, lavishly illustrated exploration of the ancient trade routes between Europe and Asia. The author provides a comprehensive history of the Silk Road and examines many of the most celebrated works of art discovered in each country, setting them in their historical and geographical context. Drawing freely on anecdotes, and literary and historical sources, the author examines the lives of the merchants and other travellers who used the ancient routes and the ways in which their activities related to the works of art that were created. Vignettes and poems from the heyday of the great trading route punctuate a lively and colourful book, which also benefits from Antonia Tozer's exceptionally evocative photographs of landscapes, monuments and peoples.


320 pages, 420 illustrations of which 300 are reproduced in full colour, clothbound, 314 x 270 mm.

Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd.


AVAILABLE ON: abebooks.com and amazon.com.

For other enquiries, please e-mail: jonathantucker1@aol.com