Circle of Animals

The twelve Chinese zodiac heads once comprised a water-clock fountain at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, the Garden of Gardens, where the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty lived.

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But in 1860 the Yuanming Yuan was ransacked by French and British troops, and the heads were pillaged. Ai Weiwei reinterprets symbolism, tradition and repatriation in over-sized bronzed sculptures. After Prague, Chicago, Paris and Los Angeles, the exhibition took place in the Belvedere gardens of Vienna.

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The Rat, Ox, Tiger-Audrey, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. And, in our case, we also have the Lion-Darcy, dressed in golden paws.

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Photography by Electric Percival

 

 

 

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