Frieze week isn’t just for Contemporary art any more. Or, perhaps we’re seeing more galleries trying to vector Contemporary collectors into new fields as seems to be happening with tribal art. Eskenazi Gallery is putting on two shows during Frieze week. Here’s one of them:
Chinese sculpture c. 500-1500:This exhibition will showcase twenty-two sculptures in stone, gilt bronze and wood, almost all with a strong connection to Buddhist worship and some of which have not been seen in public for decades. This is probably the finest and most comprehensive sculpture show ever held by Eskenazi. A leading highlight is a hugely impressive painted and gilt-wood seated, mid 11th to mid 12th century. Measuring 1.75m in height, it is an undisputed masterpiece of Chinese Buddhist sculpture, probably the finest example of such a figure remaining in private hands and of comparable quality to the best in any museum. The earliest sculpture in the exhibition is a sandstone head and shoulders of Buddha, mid to late 5th century AD, originally carved into the wall of one of the cave temples at Yungang, Shanxi province.
