Bronze Taotie Mask with Ring Handle, Northern Wei Dynasty, 4th-5th century

The Ancients Among Us: Chinese and Japanese Paintings and Works of Art, Kaikodo LLC
Online exhibition, March 15-25

The Ancients Among Us includes works focusing on characters drawn from antiquity, whether historically real, legendary, or figments of an imagination. A human figure mysteriously appears seated dead-center in the forehead of an otherwise typical gilt-bronze taotie mask. A dignified slender-bodied military official represents his class in a sculptural style and garb typical of the early 6th century while an aristocratic couple in kaleidoscopic color lounge on the lid of a kogo incense container, fashioned by the inimitable Nonomura Ninsei in 17th century Kyoto. Actual historical figures are immortalized in such painted images as that of the illustrious Zen monk Tōran Sōtaku, a contemporary of Ninsei and another of a Manchu noblewoman majestically sitting for her portrait in opulent formal attire. Writhing dragons on a late Zhou dynasty garment hook and a tiger captured in ink and color on silk, by a painter working centuries later, have lorded over the East and the West from time immemorial, their claim to antiquity without peer. And, finally, artists and craftsmen who have slipped into eternity are among us today through their enduring creations in all manner of media, a number of them represented in the exhibition.

Tachibana Shoun, Tiger in Landscape, ink and color on silk

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