The two sculptures from Zhu's iconic & China, China (Lot 2384 and Lot 2445) series, executed in 2002 and 2008 respectively, are drawn from Zhu's best recognized figure, a near ubiquitous bald-headed everyman dressed in an anonymous Mao suit. Lifted from his paintings, this figure takes on new associations in his three dimensional form. Leaning precariously forward in pairs, the figures defining features are diminished and practically non-existent. The simplicity of the work resembles Zhu's minimalistic ink brushstroke; the worn and faded colours that render the figures echo the application of ink on paper, but are also deliberately aged, and the sculptures as a result become reminiscent of ancient Buddhist sculptures found in the caves at Dunhuang. Their deliberate aging further indexes Zhu's interest in ink paintings and arts from the Tang and Song Dynasties. At the same time, Zhu's choice of materials and colour add additional layers of meaning. The two life-sized figures, suited in a typical Zhongshan suit - also commonly known as the Mao jacket, stand at attention with shoulders back and arms at their sides and with their heads raised. The figures are featured without eyes and mouth, leaning forward yet firmly standing on the platform beneath. Such structure and stance of the sculptures evoke a sense of satire on the totalitarian and compliance dogma of the Mao's era. In the earlier work, executed in bronze, the figures appear in dusty red jackets, the colour of the revolution, but the deliberately aged texture suggests that, like the statues at Dunhuang or the terracotta army found in Xi'an, become the remnants of an era long passed. In a later work, Zhu has employed a bright green and fiberglass as his material, suggesting further not the remnants of the communist era, but the remnants of that era's commodification in the global consumer economy. As such, we can see how, through his study of traditional art forms, Zhu brings an added perspective to the folly of the contemporary era.