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"From Court to Caravan: Chinese Tomb Sculptures from the Collection of Anthony M. Solomon"
2002-10-09 until 2003-02-09
Asia Society
New York, NY, USA United States of America

Made exclusively for burial, tomb sculptures representing both humans and animals were placed in tombs to protect and serve the spirit of the deceased. The Solomon collection is rich in materials not previously sought out by other collectors-Han-dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) and sixth-century pieces, along with unglazed, cold-painted sculptures.

The exhibition's title, From Court to Caravan, reflects its broad array of subjects, from courtly to humble to foreign. Rich in sculptures of humans, horses and guardian figures, with some resembling Buddhist temple guardians, the Solomon collection is also notable for its large number of pieces from the sixth century, a period of intense artistic fervor in China. First represented during the Eastern Han period (25-220), camels soared to popularity in the funerary sculptures of the late Northern Wei period (386-534) and then were depicted in the funerary sculptures of all succeeding periods.

The exhibition includes Standing, Braying Camel with Brushed Mane, Its Back Laden with Goods from the Northern Qi period (550-577), a medium gray sculpture with cold-painted pigments. This magnificent camel is celebrated for its well-brushed mane and wonderfully textured tufts of fur at the tops of its front legs, not to mention for its very distinctive personality; it is also notable for its extensive use of ocher pigment, which lends a naturalistic note to the animal's coloration.

"We are extremely grateful for the many years of support Anthony M. Solomon has provided to the Art Museums," said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "His comprehensive collection of tomb sculptures, with its emphasis on unglazed pieces, has allowed our talented curatorial staff, one of the most active Asian departments in any U.S. or European museum, to explore an important but previously neglected topic, presenting beautiful works of art and shedding new scholarly light on them."

There were four principal reasons for supplying tombs with burial goods: to provide food, water, and wine to sustain the spirit of the deceased in the next life; to provide a variety of humans and animals to serve, entertain, and amuse the deceased; to provide guardians to protect the corpse and the spirit of the deceased on its journey to the next world, including protection of the tomb itself from invasion, desecration, and robbery; and to provide a sufficiently great quantity of food, sculptures, and luxury and other burial goods to establish the wealth, importance, and elevated status of the deceased.

"This exhibition will allow us to present a superb group of Chinese funerary sculptures, an area in which our own holdings are relatively weak, thus giving our students and public a chance to see, enjoy, and study pieces that are not regularly displayed in our galleries —indeed not regularly displayed in New England in any quantity," said Robert D. Mowry, Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum. "Because Dr. Solomon’s collection is rich in materials not previously sought out by other collectors —Han-dynasty and sixth-century pieces, for example, not to mention unglazed, cold-painted sculptures—this exhibition breaks new scholarly ground while presenting works of great beauty and power."

Collector Anthony M. Solomon

Dr. Solomon has had a relationship with Harvard for several decades, completing graduate work in economics in 1948, teaching at the Harvard Business School from 1961 to 1963, and currently serving as a member of the Harvard University Art Museums Collections Committee, in addition to serving on committees of other prestigious arts organizations outside of Harvard. After completing an undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago, Anthony Solomon was director-general of finance of Southwest Iran from 1942 to 1946, having been appointed to the American financial mission to Iran by President Roosevelt on the recommendation of Winston Churchill. From 1953 to 1961, he served in Mexico City as president of the Rosa Blanca Products Corporation. In 1963, he chaired the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission to Bolivia and also served as a special consultant to President Kennedy as chairman of the mission to the U.S. Trust Territory, Pacific Islands. From 1963 to 1965, he was deputy assistant secretary of state for Latin America and deputy assistant administrator for USAID for Latin America; then, from 1965 to 1969, he was assistant secretary of state for economic affairs. From 1969 to 1972, he headed the International Investment Corporation for Yugoslavia, in London. He returned to U.S. government service in 1972, as an advisor to the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee (1972–1973). In 1977 he was appointed undersecretary of the Treasury for monetary affairs, a post he held until 1980, when he was named president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he served until 1985. He was chairman of S.G. Warburg (U.S.A.) between 1986 and 1989. Since then he has served as member, director, or chairman of various financial and advisory boards, including his current service as chairman of the executive committee of the Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C.

Catalogue Information

A fully illustrated, color-printed catalogue accompanies the exhibition. The 160 page catalogue features an essay on the history of Chinese tomb sculptures by Virginia L. Bower (an independent scholar specializing in Chinese tomb sculptures). The catalogue also includes a Curatorial Preface and checklist of the works in the exhibition by Robert D. Mowry, Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art at the Harvard University Art Museums. Information about the catalogue, which can be purchased for $30, may be found at: http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/publications/index.html; a hardcover trade edition is distributed through Yale University Press, at yalebooks.com.


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