ASIAN ART IN LONDON
AAL Art Awards Shortlist, 2021: Peter Finer

VIDEO DESCRIPTION
Redmond Finer, of Peter Finer, presents Peter Finer's shortlisted piece for the Apollo Award for Outstanding East Asian Work of Art from a Dealer - an Exceptionally Fine Saddle, or Gser Sga, c.1475-1600. The mythical dragons of ancient Chinese folklore were adopted by neighbours, including Tibetan, Korean and Japanese cultures, for use in their own specific beliefs, storytelling, art and heraldry. This saddle features elaborately decorated fretted gilt iron plates, pierced and chiselled with sinuous, scaly, four-clawed dragons writhing through a tracery of scrolling foliage that terminates in buds. Leaves, flowers and a denser tracery of scrolling foliage also feature on the plates of the saddle. In the catalogue to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2006 exhibition Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, written by Donald J. LaRocca, he proposes that Chinese robes and silk brocade first introduced these major motifs to Tibetan art, and that images of dragons in scrolling foliage ‘closely mirror in form those on contemporary Chinese textiles.’

ABOUT THE AAL ART AWARDS
Every autumn Asian Art in London (AAL) brings together leading international dealers and auction houses from the UK, Europe, USA and Asia, who specialize in a wide variety of ancient to modern Asian art, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Islamic and Middle Eastern, Himalayan and Central Asian, Southeast Asian. As part of the annual event, the AAL Art Awards highlights outstanding pieces of work in four categories:

1- Antiques Trade Gazette Award for Outstanding East Asian Work of Art from an Auction House
2- Antiques Trade Gazette Award for Outstanding Islamic or Indian Work of Art from an Auction House
3- Apollo Award for Outstanding East Asian Work of Art from a Dealer
4- Apollo Award for Outstanding Islamic or Indian Work of Art from a Dealer

Click here to learn more about Asian Art in London: www.asianartinlondon.com 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & CREDITS
Asian Art in London
Cover image credit: AAL