Login My List - 0 Help
	Search   Search Images   About

Keyword Browse Combined Highlights Search History All Catalogs

Search:  Artist BrowseTitle BrowseSubject BrowseObject Type Browse Owner Browse       Refine Search     > You are only searching: Art Inventories

More Smithsonian Searches     Who else has...     Unknown (Chinese),     Animal -- Lion     Mythology -- Asian     Outdoor Sculpture -- Maryland -- Germantown     Sculpture

Pair of Chinese Lions - Male and Female, (sculpture). Artist:  Unknown (Chinese), sculptor. Title:  Pair of Chinese Lions - Male and Female, (sculpture). Dates:  ca. 1796-1820. Installed 1990. Medium:  Lions: carved granite, painted (?); Bases: pink granite and concrete. Dimensions:  2 pieces. Lions: each approx. 48 x 42 x 22 in.; Bases: each approx. 20 x 60 x 30 in. Inscription:  unsigned Description:  Two nearly identical ornately carved figures of male and female Chinese lions are on either side of a driveway. The female lion is on the proper right side and the male is on the proper left. Each stands with its front paws grasping a globe. Within each glove is a loose sphere. Within the mouths of the lions is a moveable ball. Subject:  Animal -- Lion Mythology -- Asian Object Type:  Outdoor Sculpture -- Maryland -- Germantown Sculpture Owner:  U.S. Zen Institute, 19225 Germantown Road, Germantown, Maryland 20874 Remarks:  The lions were carved from a single piece of granite, including the interior balls in their mouths and spheres, sometime during the Ching dynasty, between 1796 and 1820. They originally came from the Fujiian province of mainland China, were in Taiwan for several years, and then shipped to Virginia in 1987. They were donated to the American Zin Institute in February, 1990. The round ball inside the lions' mouths represents the pearl of wisdom and to move it with your hands represents good luck, or fulfills a wish. The round ball in the sphere represents the world and the lion's ability to protect it. For related information see Sherman E. Lee's "A History of Far Eastern Art," Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1960. IAS files contain a related article from the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), March 22, 1990, pg. A13. References:  Save Outdoor Sculpture, Maryland survey, 1993. Illustration:  Image on file. Montgomery Journal (Maryland), March 22, 1990, pg. A13. Note:  The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide. Repository:  Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 Control Number:  IAS MD000157   Copy/Holding information Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum Control Number   Inventory of American Sculpture MD000157 Add Copy to MyList Format: HTMLPlain textDelimited Subject:   Email to:

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

About | © 2020 Smithsonian | Terms of Use | Privacy | Contact