Dagoba
Liang Shaoji
梁绍基
Production date
2015
Object Detail
Media
porcelain, silkworm threads, silkworm cocoon
Measurements
43 x 15 x 13 cm
Notes
Liang Shaoji has lived on Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang Province for more than 25 years. ‘Tiantai’ means ‘heavenly terrace’: the mountain has been home to Daoist and Buddhist teachers and their temples since ancient times. Since moving to the mountain Liang’s work has focused on the interconnectedness of everything in the natural world. He has developed a unique process, raising countless generations of silkworms to enshroud all manner of humble objects with web-like silken threads, producing mysterious wrapped forms. In Chinese, the words for ‘silk’ and ‘poem’ sound similar, as do ‘silkworm’ and ‘Zen’. Liang’s silkworms eat mulberry leaves, create soft cocoons that envelop discarded everyday objects, and lay their eggs, living and dying in an endless cycle. Cocoon Bottle and Dagoba are not unlike a sutra, a paean of praise to creation; they are also a celebration of those time-honoured materials of Chinese creativity, silk and porcelain.
Accession number
2016.192