FB Post of 6th October 2021
For over 8,000 years, people have been consuming wine – some scholars even argue that wine played an important role in human society before bread. By the 13th century BC, the ancient Greeks were already worshipping Dionysus, the god of wine. Wine amphoras with distinct Greek styling have been found throughout the Mediterranean, Levante and even further into the east.
As Alexander the Great conquered parts of Central Asia, he helped spread Greece’s wine culture. According to legend, when he lost one-third of his army in the Gedrosia Desert, he held a party in honor of Dionysus that lasted seven days and seven nights. In the ancient Gandhara Kingdom, his army believed they had discovered the birthplace of Dionysus because the landscape was so rich in wild grapes.
By the end of the second century BC, Han envoys had brought grape seeds back to China and planted them on Imperial land. Wei Emperor Cao Pi noted that grape wine “is sweeter than the wine made [from cereals] using ferments and sprouted grain. One recovers from it more easily when one has taken too much.”
During the Tang Dynasty, wine became increasingly popular in China. Several great Tang poets celebrated wine from so-called Western Regions. Emperor Muzong of Tang spent much of his brief reign feasting and drinking heavily. “When I drink this [wine], I am instantly conscious of harmony suffusing my four limbs. It is the true Princeling of Grand Tranquility!” he said.
Tomb figures of Central Asian wine merchants also became more common in China during this time. On the one hand, they represented refined taste and artistic intoxication. On the other, they showed the importance of trade and globalization to Tang society, epitomized by the Silk Road.
A massive and fine example of an ancient sommelier is lot 366 in our upcoming auction of Fine Chinese Art, Buddhism and Hinduism. He most likely served as a tomb attendant for a person of high status. Perhaps it was someone who looked forward to drinking wine in the afterlife.
The sale will take place on October 15 and 16, 2021. Click the button below to find out more about this lot!
https://www.zacke.at/auction/lot/lot-366—a-rare-and-monumental-painted-marble-figure-of-a-wine-servant-liao-dynasty/?lot=10612&so=0&st=366&sto=0&au=37&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&pp=96&pn=1&g=1&fbclid=IwAR33PPk8acC9ie2ivQpDVZ3Rd5qgVX88W1h5Yc7ENlGNrSZreAvJXkZHaF8#
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A RARE AND MONUMENTAL PAINTED MARBLE FIGURE OF A ‘WINE SERVANT’, LIAO DYNASTY
遼代罕見的大型彩繪大理石侍酒師像
China, Liao (916-1125) or Jin (1115-1234). Superbly carved and skillfully painted in polychrome pigments, this ancient ‘Sommelier’ presents a cylindrical wine vessel ‘Zun’ (see fig. 1a) held with both hands in front of him, hidden under the elongated sleeves of his robe. The protruding lid and the distinct knob of the Zun, however, are well visible.
Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 14 August 1991. Estates of William R. Appleby (1915-2007) and Elinor Appleby (1920-2020), acquired from the above. The original invoice no. 1456 from J.J. Lally & Co., signed by James J. Lally, dated 14 August 1991, stating a purchase price of USD 63,000 (approximately USD 122,500 in today’s currency) for the present lot and a smaller item accompanies this lot. It dates the figure to the 10th-11th century and describes it as a “dignitary […] holding a precious offering”. William and Elinor Appleby were noted New York Asian art collectors and longtime donors to the Asian Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Published: J. J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, New York, Buddhist Sculpture from Ancient China, March 2017, number 18. The statue was loaned by Elinor Appleby (1920-2020) to J. J. Lally & Co for this special exhibition.
Condition: Excellent condition, fully commensurate with age, extensive wear to the stone and pigments, small nicks and losses, weathering and erosion, minor structural cracks. Overall exactly as expected of a statue that was created over a millennium ago. The pigments have darkened significantly over the centuries. The marble has a fine, unctuous patina that has naturally grown into an elegant, creamy tone over time.
Weight: 65.9 kg (incl. base)
Dimensions: Height 77 cm (excl. base) and 85 cm (incl. base)
With a fitted wood base. (2)
The wine servant is adorned in floral earrings, his hair neatly pulled back, the face showing a meditative yet somewhat hedonist expression, with heavy-lidded eyes below gently arched eyebrows, a prominent nose, and full lips slightly pursed to form a subtle smile. He stands on a rectangular base incised with cloud scrolls to the front, and wears a long flowing robe elegantly tied with a sash and a scarf neatly falling over the base.
The ancient Greeks were highly influential in the development and distribution of wine and the emergence of their winemaking culture was symbolized by the mythology of Dionysus, god of wine (see fig. 2). Greek wine became widely appreciated and was exported throughout the Mediterranean, the Levante and even further into the east, as wine amphoras with distinct Greek styling and art have been found throughout these areas (see fig. 3).
The Hellenization of Central Asia, through the military conquests of Alexander (see fig. 4), eventually brought viticulture and winemaking further eastward. In response to his disastrous journey through the Gedrosia desert, located in today’s Iran, Pakistan and India, in which perhaps one-third of his troops lost their lives, Alexander staged a Bacchic triumphal procession and celebrated a drinking party in honor of Dionysus that lasted seven days and seven nights. In the territory of the ancient Gandhara Kingdom, the Macedonian army was even believed to have discovered the birthplace of Dionysus, because the mountainous landscape was so rich in wild grapes. In the region, wine was indeed consumed during popular religious festivals already long before the arrival of Buddhism.
In the 130s and 120s BC, a Chinese imperial envoy of the Han dynasty named Zhang Qian (see fig. 5) opened diplomatic relations with several Hellenistic successor states in Central Asia, including Dayuan, Sogdia, and Bactria. By the end of the second century BC, Han envoys had brought grape seeds from the wine-loving kingdom of Dayuan in the Fergana Valley back to China and had them planted on Imperial land near the capital Chang’an. The Shennong Ben Cao Jing, the oldest surviving Chinese work on materia medica, compiled in the late Han, states that grapes could be used to produce wine. In the Three Kingdoms era, Wei Emperor Cao Pi (d. 226 AD) noted that grape wine “is sweeter than the wine made [from cereals] using ferments and sprouted grain. One recovers from it more easily when one has taken too much.” Grapes continued to be grown in the following centuries, notably in the northwestern region of Gansu, but were not yet used to produce wine on a large scale. Wine thus remained an exotic product known to only very few people.
During the Tang dynasty, the consumption of grape wines became more common. With the conquest of the silk road state Gaochang in 641, the Tang obtained the seeds of an elongated grape called ‘mare teat’ (maru) as well as a method for winemaking. Later, wine was also imported again following the restoration of trade with the west, as evidenced by tomb figures depicting Central Asian wine merchants (see fig. 6).
Several Tang poets versified on grape wine, celebrating wine from the ‘Western Regions’ – the one from Liangzhou was particularly noted – or from Taiyuan in Shanxi, the latter of which produced wine made from the ‘mare teat’ grape. Emperor Muzong of Tang (795-824), who spent much of his brief reign feasting and heavily drinking, said of this wine: “When I drink this, I am instantly conscious of harmony suffusing my four limbs. It is the true Princeling of Grand Tranquility!” The Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup (see fig. 7) were a group of Tang dynasty scholars that included the great Li Bai (701-762). These accomplished and influential poets were known for their love of wine, a fact that is supported by their many writings related to it.
Expert’s note: The growing popularity of wine in China, beginning in the Tang dynasty, is attested by the great Tang poets as well as tomb figures of Central Asian wine merchants, highlighting aspects of refined taste and artistic intoxication on the one hand, and the importance of trade and globalization to Tang society, epitomized by the Silk Road, on the other. The present figure, of massive size yet fine quality, most likely served as a tomb attendant for a person of high status who would have looked forward to drinking much wine in the afterlife, while “recovering from it more easily when one has taken too much.”
Literature comparison: The heaviness of the face and square jawline seen on the present figure are characteristic of sculpture dating to the late Tang (AD 618-907) to Liao dynasty (AD 916-1125). See, for example, a marble seated figure of Buddha dated to the late Tang dynasty in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where the fullness of the face is particularly prominent, illustrated by Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan in Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven, 2010, p. 176, no. A28.
Literature: A bronze wine vessel and cover dated to the Han dynasty, of similar cylindrical form with a short circular knob surmounting the cover, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see figs. 1a and 1b. See also fig. 2, a Hellenistic mosaic, discovered close to the city of Paphos, depicting Dionysus. See fig. 3, an amphora dated to the late 6th century BC, depicting Dionysus in a vineyard. See fig. 4, a mosaic from Pompeii depicting Alexander the Great. See fig. 5, a mural in Cave 323 of the Mogao Caves depicting Zhang Qian leaving emperor Han Wudi around 130 BC for his expedition to Central Asia. See fig. 6, a Tang-dynasty sancai-glazed figure of a Central Asian wine peddler in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, object number B60P521. See fig. 7, a screen depicting the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup.
Auction result comparison: Compare a related but considerably smaller (47 cm high) painted marble figure of a seated Buddha, dated Tang to Liao dynasty (618-1125), at Christie’s New York in Lacquer, Jade, Bronze, Ink: The Irving Collection, on 21 March 2019, lot 1225, sold for USD 162,500.
