Yak Statuette
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A bronze statuette of a stylised yak, depicted with its head bowed forwards, and an extended tail folded over its humped back. The yak is evoked through simple, bold forms, with some additional incised details, such as the eyes, hooves, and the thick shaggy fur on the upper legs and lower belly.
The yak would have been cast using the piece mould technique, as demonstrated by the mould marks running down the vertical axis of the statuette. It would most likely have been an ornament for the yoke or finial of a chariot. Between the seventh and mid-fourth centuries B.C., such ornaments depicting standing and recumbent grazing animals were cast in matching sets of four or more to adorn the two-wheeled chariots of the nomadic people who lived in the Ordos Desert in northwest China.
Covered by rich vegetation and watered with plenty of rivers and streams, the Ordos Plateau encompassed the best grazing lands on the Asian Steppe in the first millennium B.C., and was home to nomadic herders who continually moved in search of pasture. The nomads lived on the plateau between the sixth and second century B.C., until they were driven out of the region by the Xiongnu.
Archaeological finds of skeletal remains and bronze objects provide much of our information about the Ordos. Master metalworkers, their artefacts include belt buckles, small weapons, and funerary cart and canopy ornaments. In contrast to later cultures and their contemporaries further east, tinned bronze, rather than silver or gold, was the most esteemed material. The bronzes are almost always zoomorphic, occasionally featuring predatory scenes, which has led to this art being termed ‘Animal Style’. Because of their importance to the Ordos way of life, animals served as status markers and were associated with particular clans. The art style incorporates features of both Scythian and Chinese art of the period. Ordos weapons found in tomb contexts particularly resemble those of Scythia and Saka.
Mostra d’Art Cinese, Palazzo ducale, Venice, 1954 (exhibition catalogue), no. 146.
Alvise Zorzi, Mongolia. Nelle steppe di Cinghis Khaan (Venice, 1992), p. 184, fig. 9.
L’Arte Animalistica Della Steppe, Ligabue Magazine, 27 (1995), p. 134.
Previously in the Private Collection of Girolamo Varaschini, Castelnovo Vicentino, Italy, from at least 1954.
Rassla Foundation, Zurich, Dr. Giancarlo Ligabue (1931-2015), from at least 1995.
ALR: S00244433, with IADAA Certificate, this item has been checked against the Interpol database.
Dr. Giancarlo Ligabue (1931-2015) was born in Venice on 30 October 1931. He studied economics at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and received a PhD in palaeontology at la Sorbonne in Paris; later he also received honorary degrees from the universities of Bologna, Venice, Modena, Lima, and Ashgabat. At the age of 28 he began working for Ligabue S.p.A., expanding his father’s business globally to become what is now a world-leader in the catering and naval supply sector. He obtained a pilot’s license for tourist planes in his yourh, and participated I many road and motorboat races. In the seventies, he became president of the Reyer Sports Club, and pushed the Venetian basketball team to new levels.
Ligabue founded the Centro Studi Richerche Ligabue in 1973. As a paleontologist, archaeologist, and anthropologist, he promoted over 130 expeditions with prestigious scientists and other experts. Numerous publications and over 70 scientific documentaries record the findings of these expeditions. Ligabue made several important discoveries, such as the noasaurid dinosaur Ligabueino. In 1973, Ligabue organised an expedition in the Ténéré desert, investigating the trail of monumental skeletons buried under the Sahara sands, and unearthing deposits of plant, hominid and dinosaur fossils from about 100 million years ago. He found both a complete skeleton of an Ouranosaurus nigeriensis and the skull and bone plates of a Sarosachus imperator (both now in Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia, where Ligabue served as president for a time).
Ligabue was elected to European Parliament between 1994 and 1999. He was awarded the UNESCO Prize in Paris for communication and scientific dissemination, and designated Honorary Consul of the Polar Star of Sweden. In 1985, he was awarded Venetian citizen of the year, and received the keys to the city in 2005. A year after his death in 2015, his son, Inti, founded the Fondazione Giancarlo Ligabue, which continues to promote Ligabue’s values and interest in cultural heritage.
