Monkey, Eastern Han Dynasty China (206 BC - 220... Lot 3

Monkey, Eastern Han Dynasty China (206 BC - 220 AD), Gansu, Wuwei District H. 32 cm. Wood (spruce), traces of polychromy The monkey is rarely treated in Han period wood carving. It seems that at that time, monkeys lived in Gansu and some were domesticated. The carving work is treated in large facets which give a cubic appearance to our animal. The decoration painted in white, red and black, makes the monkey particularly lively, with its round eye and wide open mouth. C14, Ralf Kotala laboratory, n°22903 Provenance: 1999-2022. Collection Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris Acquired from the Jacques Barrère Gallery, Paris Reference: A comparable piece was discovered near Wuwei in 1957 and is preserved in the Lanzhou Museum, reproduced in Trésors d'art chinois, Petit Palais, 1973. Publication: - Galerie Jacques Barrère, Immortality Wood, 1998. P82 and 83 - Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, L'art au futur antérieur, un autre regard, Musée de Grenoble, Actes Sud, 2004. P67 - Arts d'Afrique noire, arts premiers, n°116, 2000, P15. Exhibition: Musée de Grenoble, L'Art au Futur Antérieur, Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, Un Autre Regard. 2004