Sitting Monkey

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Sitting Monkey

Place of OriginChina

Date2nd-1st century BCE

DimensionsH: 9 1/2 in. (23 cm)

MediumLacquered, carved wood.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2005.49

Not on View

Collections

Sculpture

Published ReferencesDzalba-Lynbis, Catherine. The Bestiary of Ancient China, Paris, 2004.Exhibition HistoryParis, Galerie Jacques Barrere, The Bestiary of Ancient China, Fall, 2004.Label TextThis rare wooden monkey was created as a mingqi (ming-chee), an object made specifically for a burial chamber. It was carved for a tomb in the state of Chu in southern China where wood was prevalent—mingqi in the north of China were usually baked clay since wood was scarce. These wooden figures were almost always coated with thin layers of lacquer, a resin extracted from a lacquer tree (gishu). The addition of lacquer to a wood sculpture made it highly resistant to insects and water, thus preserving this object for more than two thousand years.