Photo CreditCarol M. Highsmith Photography
Asia
Artist
Daniel Chester French
Year1907
Classification
sculpture
Medium
Tennessee marble
Dimensions9' 6" high
- One of four sculptures (The Continents) on the front entrance facade, made of Tennessee Marble, and resting on high platforms. Figures represent ancient and modern seafaring continents and sculptured masks of the races of Man. Similarities link the four sculpture groups. The main figure in each is an idealized seated young woman surrounded by symbolic representations, including stereotypes that were considered acceptable at the time. The Four Continents portray the politics, religions, and culture of teh continents as interpreted by French, Gilbert, and the leaders of the time. The figure of Asia is "passive and withdrawn." The central figure of Asia is seated with hands on her knees and elbows at her side. She wears a voluminous draped garment, adorned with many necklaces, and wears an elaborate hat. She holds a lotus flower, with a serpent wrapped around its stem, in her proper right hand. The lotus bloom rests against her proper right shoulder. A small Buddha statuette sits in the figure Asia's lap. Her feet rest on a footstool which is supported by five (5) representations of human skulls. Her throne's back is fashioned by a cross of Christianity. To the outside of her proper left foot is a nude prostrate figure. Behind/over him is a man, clothed in a loin cloth, who is bent forward in supplication. His hands are bound. This man is clasped around the back by the proper left arm of a standing nude female who leans forward over the central figure of Asia's proper left shoulder. The woman holds a baby in her proper right arm; the baby leans over her proper right shoulder. To the proper right of the Asia figure is a seated lioness whose chest faces the rear of the sculpture and whose head is turned up toward the proper right, looking at the central figure. The tail of the lioness lays on the base in the front of the central figure's feet. The statue of Asia is made from at least six (6) sections of Tennessee marble. A carved base is part of the carved sculpture. On the proper left side of the base near the rear edge, the letters "D.C. French S.C." are engraved. Below this is a second series of engraved letters which read "A.A. Weinman ASST.", these letters are almost illegible. The alignment between the large carved sections of stone and the granite base is fairly regular around all sides (Source: 100 Years of Grandeur The Alexander Hamilton United States Custom House).
