Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Power and The Glory, Part Two; Rabbits and Spots

Having failed in my true mission of finding rabbits in the Ming Dynasty, I began to search amongst the permanent collection at the Asian Art Museum. Several years ago the AAM had a special exhibit on Taoist Arts, there were plenty of rabbits then. My first lagomorphic spotting, other than a rabbit card in the gift store, was this little netsuke
A neat and compact design solution.

Where there is one rabbit there is likely another, or two, and I spied these two. 
A sweet and lively composition.

Some nice spots were in evidence in the form of this lovely pot, which I am sure Tyler and Sydney would appreciate, especially if it were filled with their current bink-worthy favorite garden fresh Chicory. 

Random can be very  sophisticated.

An enlightened Buddha took on spots, whether by design or happenstance, it is a handsome look. 
Spots and quite simple but effective rendering of stylized drapery.

And then I saw my Sydney! What was she doing here?  

She really can look just like this! ! ! ! 

On closer examination I found this artifact  labeled:  "Incense Burner in the shape of a Mythical Beast." As you can see Sydney can adopt a very similar posture with forefeet wide and nose looking oh so square. 
Sydney also has very red shiny eyes in the direct light.

Although I don't have a good photo of it yet, she can also go very pigeon toed like this mythical beast. 
This one looks a bit disapproving.....

When I was thinking about having Sydney come and live with her brother the director of Rabbit Haven said "She is a very powerful rabbit." I did not pursue inquiry and she did not elaborate, but perhaps this is was she was talking about. 

Happy thump day.














15 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

Oh lovely things, specially the netsuke,

YowlYY said...

Well done to spot all the bunnies... and who would have thought that Sydney is the reincarnation of a mytical creature?? Powerful, that's it...
Thanks for the news on the package...I hope it will be here by the end of next week :)))

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

The netsuke are adorable. And Sydney the Mythical Beast? Hilarious!

RG said...

Oh gosh, Savannah is so pigeon toed it is almost shameful ...

Unknown said...

LOVE that rabbit pot...what was it for..hope it's not for spitting or peeing...they have such things in China you know..hehehe..

Friend of the Animals said...

I want #4!

How much do you think they want for it??!!??!!

HA!

Anonymous said...

Sydney's a mythical beast! Wow! The 'powerful rabbit' description makes sense in light of this recent revelation :D

Does lightning strike when Sydney gets angry??

Deb Cushman said...

A mythical beast? Wow! Freckles is a mythical beast, too. How exciting.

Anonymous said...

those are wonderful artifacts :-)
and i liked your post on dr about using the book to get your students on track - smart! whenever i'm having a hard time looking at a few cute nanimal pics with funny captions always helps me too!

PJ said...

I visited the Boston MFA and the Harvard MFA last week. I was taken by the Korean ceramics at BMFA and some Greek sculptures at HMFA. I don't know that I saw any buns but these are wonderful. There's no picture taking at the museums but some people had their little point and shoots and got around it. Lucky you to get all these shots to share with us. Thanks Diana.

PJ said...

I have a sticky bun news flash! I have to go to Memphis this weekend and I'm hoping to get "Saved Dave" onto the gates of Graceland. I don't know the setup but we're going to move swiftly and silently and hope to mount a successful assault! Wish us luck!

Mary-Laure said...

More bunnies, yay!

You know, the French EAT rabbits...

ilex said...

Love them netsukes. I thought the top bun one was a chocolate bonbon at very first glance, but then noticed the museum-ish number below it. Hah.

I have a pic of my big girl Cecilia grooming her back, and I always think of it as her netsuke pose. I've been searching a while for a pic of a bunny netsuke in grooming position so I can post them side by side, but I've yet to find one.

Glenna said...

I love the two bunnies together; Pink and Elvis drape themselves over each other like that. And it seems Sydney must indeed be a bunny with Powers.

Deb Cushman said...

We got our Sticky Buns pictures posted today! Finally!