Dog
This sculpture of a dog celebrates Chinese New Year, as 2018 is the year of the dog. In the Chinese lunar calendar, 12 animals represent the zodiac signs, each one corresponding to a year in a 12-year cycle. The dog marks the 11th year.
Poised with an alert expression and open mouth, this dog appears to be barking. The harness suggests this is a depiction of a domesticated dog that served a family. Dogs have faithfully guarded Chinese families and their properties for over 10,000 years.
With Scha Yu Fu, Peiping (modern-day Beijing), by January 23, 1932;
Purchased from Scha Yu Fu, through Laurence Sickman and the dealer Otto Burchard, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1932 [1].
NOTES:
[1] Laurence Sickman's purchasing notebook indicates this object was acquired on the San Tiao Hutung, Peiping (modern-day Beijing), through dealer Otto Burchard, but does not name the vendor. An accession card in the Nelson-Atkins files, which would have been created much later than Sickman's purchasing notes, lists dealer Scha Yu Fu as the object's source, but Scha Yu Fu was located at no. 6 Shu Yo Hutung. It is currently unclear whether this incongruity is only with the address, or if the identity of Scha Yu Fu as the vendor may be in question. Nelson-Atkins Archives, MSS001 Laurence Sickman Papers, box 12, folder 11, copy in curatorial files.
