"Confucius" Label Created For Tenuta Dell' Ornellaia#
Two months after wrapping his solo show "Q Confucius" at Shanghai's Rockbund Art Museum, the Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Huan will soon exhibit his work not at a gallery but on bottles of Italian wine. According to WineSino (Chinese), the Tuscan winery Tenuta Dell 'Ornellaia has invited Zhang to create a special edition of labels for its Vendemmia d’Artista 2009 wine. Featuring a Confucian theme similar to "Q Confucius," Zhang's collaboration with Tenuta Dell 'Ornellaia goes beyond only labels, and includes a specially made steel sculpture of the ancient Chinese philosopher, which the winery has placed in its courtyard.
In all, Zhang's limited-edition partnership with Tenuta Dell 'Ornellaia features a series of 100 750 mL bottles and 10 one-liter bottles, along with a single 9-liter bottle onto which a one-of-a-kind oval-shaped portrait of Confucius is fixed. Since its first release in 2009, Tenuta Dell 'Ornellaia's Vendemmia d'Artista wine series has worked with artists in an attempt to hearken back to the Renaissance tradition of cultural sponsorship.
As Tenuta Dell 'Ornellaia CEO Giovanni Geddes, said this week, "Each year we commission a great artist to create works of art for our series, reflecting the characteristics of the wine itself and its vintage." Geddes went on to note that this year's release is particularly "balanced," hence the Confucian imagery.
On April 27, the bottles will be auctioned off at a charity event held by the winery and Sotheby's at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, with the proceeds going to the H2 Foundation for the Arts and Education (浩然艺术与教育基金). According to Geddes, Tenuta Dell 'Ornellaia hopes to raise over 600,000 euros (US$788,940) from the sale of the bottles. "Though it's just a drop in the bucket," Geddes noted, "we're proud to be involved in the charity."
Though this is Zhang Huan's first collaboration with a winemaker, it's not the first for a Chinese artist. In 2010, the blue-chip Chinese contemporary artist Yue Minjun worked with Ruinart on a limited-edition champagne bottle designed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Hong Kong retailer JOYCE, and painter Xu Lei was commissioned by Château Mouton Rothschild to create a special edition label for its 2008 vintage.
