Sheep.

Material: nephrite.

Length: 172 mm.

The image of one of the five treasures of the Buryat people is reflected in Sergei Falkin’s new sculpture. These five treasures are the five animals – the main ones in Buryat nomadic culture. They include a camel, a horse, a bull, a goat and a sheep. Moreover, each nomadic animal carried its own symbolism and meaning. For example, the sheep symbolized warmth, harmony and fertility.

Sergey Falkin saw the embodiment of the animalistic image in a piece of nephrite and expressed his plastic idea in a dialogue with the material. The image looks monolithic and large, but on closer examination each curl of sheep’s wool, worked out by the master, provides its naturalistic softness. The natural variability in the color of the animal is conveyed by the peculiarities in the color of the material: the sculptor has placed the figure of the sheep in the stone the way that it has acquired a white muzzle and a light wool on the chest.