Wei Wei All the Way Home

Unexpectedly came upon an exhibition of Ai Wei Wei, the Chinese artist, in the Grand Army Plaza in front of the Plaza Hotel in NYC.  Surrounding the Pulitzer Fountain, this circle of Chinese Zodiac Heads is based on the 12 animal heads that functioned as a water clock-fountain in the European-style gardens of  Emperor Qianlong at the summer palace of Yuanming Yuan outside of Beijing.

In 1860, French and British troops ransacked the summer palace and the heads were pillaged.