Yue Minjun - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale Hong Kong Friday, October 6, 2023 | Phillips
  • As part of 5 unique sets of sculptures that the artist created, the present lot is part of the group entitled Contemporary Terracotta Warriors No. 5. Yue Minjun created five of these sets of unique sculptures, each comprising 25 warriors with a different stylistic rendering of the arms: some with their arms crossed in front of their bodies, some with their hands over their ears and, in this instance, with their arms raised. The artist wittily injects contemporaneity through his reinterpretation of the historical terracotta warriors found in the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, one of China’s most influential emperors. Yue Minjun creates each of his warriors to be identical in order not to exhibit individualism, boldly critiquing the numbing similitude that plagues current society in the modern age.

    • Provenance

      Alexander Ochs Gallery, Berlin
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      Scheveningen, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Xianfeng! Chinese Avant-garde Sculpture, 2005
      Herford, Museum fur zeitgenossische Kunst und Design, Loss of Control, 2008

Ж159

Contemporary Terracotta Warrior No.5

signed, numbered and dated 'yue minjun 5 21/25 2003' on the reverse
acrylic on fibreglass and reinforced plastic with iron base
188 x 91 x 44 cm. (74 x 35 7/8 x 17 3/8 in.)
Executed in 2003, this work is number 21 from an edition of 25.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$200,000 - 300,000 
€24,200-36,300
$25,600-38,500

Sold for HK$635,000

Contact Specialist

Anastasia Salnikoff
Head of Day Sale, Associate Specialist
+852 2318 2014
anastasiasalnikoff@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

Hong Kong Auction 7 October 2023