A Complete Set of Chinese Zodiac Figures in Tang Dynasty Three Colors Glaze Ceramic Style
Artist: Zhang Hongtu (Chinese, b. 1943)
Date: 2004
Dimensions:
(Each) 12 × 4 3/4 × 3 7/8 in. (30.5 × 12.1 × 9.8 cm)
Shelf for display: 14 × 107 1/2 × 11 1/2 in.
Medium: Glazed ceramics
Place of Origin: China
Classification: Ceramics
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange
Object number: 2008.159A-L
Label Text:The forms of these 12 symbols of the Chinese zodiac—human figures with animal heads (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig)—originated in ancient China. During the Tang Dynasty (618–907), sets of clay zodiac figures painted in the sancai (“three-color”) dripped glaze typical of Tang ceramics were buried in the tombs of the wealthy. More than 1,000 years later, artist Zhang Hongtu has created his Tang-inspired zodiac figures with a distinctly modern, ironic twist: the identical hands-behind-the-back pose and costume are based on popular ceramic figures of Communist leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976) made in China in the 1950s and 1960s.
Hongtu wrote, “There are three elements in this work: the Tang tri-colored pottery texture, the Mao outfit, and the postures of the 12 zodiac animals…When I mixed these three seemingly unrelated elements, I intended to create new images that have connections with reality—connections which transcend the meaning of the twelve animals. This strange mixture parallels the current situation in China: a mixture of old and new, East and West.”
Hongtu wrote, “There are three elements in this work: the Tang tri-colored pottery texture, the Mao outfit, and the postures of the 12 zodiac animals…When I mixed these three seemingly unrelated elements, I intended to create new images that have connections with reality—connections which transcend the meaning of the twelve animals. This strange mixture parallels the current situation in China: a mixture of old and new, East and West.”
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