Archaeology from China, Ethnic Art from Africa Esprit de l’Art 44 I ART-A
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➤ This fine stylized figure represents a Yorouba deity. It was made in the first half of the 20th century. It is carved from wood and is 42.9 cm high. The figure has a patina resulting from use and bears traces of red and indigo pigment. The Yorouba live in south-western Nigeria and a small part of Benin. In their cult sculptures are used to keep the cosmic forces under control.
➤ These 27.8 cm-high terracotta figures from China represent refined court ladies. Their long silken gowns, extraordinarily elaborate coiffures and serene expressions exude great wealth. The figures are from the early Tang dynasty: thermoluminescence dating indicates 618 AD. These are perfectly preserved white terracottas with original orange, red and black polychromy.
During the last ten years many contemporary art galleries have been established in Antwerp’s South Quarter. Lut Decleer (1961) and Bruno Laurent (1963) discovered this part of the city long before that.
“In the last five years many private museums Despite the fact that it was a rather neglected area, they fell in love with ‘het Zuid’ and bought a beautiful townhouse right in front of the Museum of Fine Arts. In 1992 they established Gallery Esprit de l’Art, specializing in ancient art from China and Africa.
have been established in China”
Decleer and Laurent made frequent trips to Africa and Asia. They also visited many of the specialized museums, including those in London, Paris and New York, which helped them to refine their knowledge of non-European art. Most of the African art that Decleer and Laurent offer in the gallery comes from West Africa, Congo and Madagascar. For instance, the typical bird figures produced by the Sakalava of Madagascar. These wooden sculptures are connected with fertility and ancestor worship and they stand outdoors. The resulting weather-eroded grooves tangibly enhance their sculptural power. The gallery also shows the wooden tomb sculptures of the Mahafaly culture. These funerary figures are known as aloalo, in allusion to their communicatory role as intermediaries between the living and the ancestors.
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Esprit de l’Art Leopold de Waelplaats 4 - 2000 Antwerpen T +32 3 216 14 44 Mob +32 475 75 08 66 esprit.art@telenet.be
In addition to African ethnic art, Esprit de l’Art also offers archaeological objects from China. Decleer and Laurent: “China’s cultural history is one of the oldest in the world. The production of its refined art objects has always been associated with the various dynasties that either co-existed or succeeded one another. We used to go to China five times a year in search of objects. Now we’re there twice a year. Gradually we’ve built up a network of contacts, people with an excellent knowledge of archaeology themselves. They’ve become trusted advisers. Dealing in Chinese archaeology takes insight and experience. If you’ve got an early terracotta sculpture that’s been in the ground for centuries, for example, you have to look for authentic ‘root formation’, as it’s called. This is a vegetal deposit on the clay that gives it a certain whimsical, sinuous pigmentation. Mineral deposits are also very important and the patina differs depending on the period.”
China’s ancient cultural history spans an incredibly long period, from thousands of years before our own era to the last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911). In between are the great dynastic periods such as the Han (206 BC – 220 AD), the Tang (618-907) and the Ming (1368-1644). These are well known, but, Decleer and Laurent continue, “You also need to appreciate the less known dynasties. We offer Chinese archaeological objects, mostly terracotta sculptures from the neolithic period to the seventeenth century. Over the years the availability of Chinese cultural objects has changed somewhat. Objects in bronze and wood are becoming increasingly hard to find. During the Qin dynasty, in the third century BC, magnificent sculptures were made in wood. Some of these survived because they were submerged in oxygen-free water. Nowadays, such objects are hard to find. The superb bronzes, cast during the early Shang dynasty (1766-1122 BC), have also become extremely rare on the art market. China’s cultural production was enormous. You have to recall that under the Han dynasty, China already had a population of 50 million people.
“Meanwhile, China has discovered its own cultural heritage,” say Decleer and Laurent. “In the last five years many private museums have been established in China. The pieces in our gallery come directly from China or from Western collections. To guarantee our objects’ authenticity we have various laboratory tests carried out on them, including thermoluminescence tests on the terracotta sculptures and C-14 tests on the pieces in wood.”