HONG KONG.- Hard on the heels of Sotheby’s Maison opening at LANDMARK CHATER, Sotheby’s and LANDMARK joined forces to unveil the exhibition of a 12,000-year-old, 3.5 metre-tall, monumental woolly mammoth. Marking Hong Kong’s first-ever public display of a mammoth skeleton of this scale in the heart of the city, the exhibition at LANDMARK ATRIUM of this pre-historic marvel from 15 to 29 August is poised to send ripples of wonder and curiosity throughout the community.

Mr Nathan Drahi, Managing Director of Sotheby’s Asia said: “The opening of our Maison in the heart of Hong Kong marks a new era for Sotheby’s. This new location enables us not only to bring Sotheby’s closer to the community but also feature some of the world’s most unique and diverse objects to the public, thereby sparking curiosity amongst all whom visit Sotheby’s.”

Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) – perhaps the most well-known and studied species of mammoth – conquered the earth during the last ice age, known as the Pleistocene epoch. Exceptionally well preserved in its entirety, this rare complete individual woolly mammoth skeleton is unlike other examples found in museums, which are often composed of bones from multiple specimens. Extant in Siberia at the time of the third Ice Age, the species existed at the same time as the Neanderthal man, during the Middle Paleolithic period and as the Homo sapiens during the Upper Paleolithic Period until their extinction around 12,000 BC. Hunted by prehistoric man, mammoths developed special teeth and defences to protect themselves from predators and hunters. Their long, curved tusks were used not only in self-defence, but also for digging and scraping beneath the snow for food. These naturally formed tusks emerged at birth and continued to grow in an organic curve throughout their lifetime.

Titled Giants of The Ice Age: Travel To Prehistoric Earth With The Woolly Mammoth as part of Sotheby’s “Another World” exhibition, this remarkable fossil takes centre stage on the ground floor of LANDMARK ATRIUM.

“This rare exhibition with Sotheby’s marks the first of a series of exceptional experiences LANDMARK brings to Hong Kong as part of our ‘Tomorrow’s CENTRAL’ transformation. Our vision is to curate world-class experiences that will enrich and inspire our community,” Alvin Kong, Executive Director, Hongkong Land said.

A stone's throw away, on the first floor of its Maison at LANDMARK CHATER and lodged with its Salons – Sotheby’s curated retail offering spanning hundreds of objects and 80 million years of history – visitors can also see two other spectacular specimens.

These entail a spectacular prehistoric woolly mammoth skull from the Quaternary period (2.6 million years old) from Siberia and a Gryposaurus (a Juvenile Gryposaur) from the Late Cretaceous period (100 million to 66 million years ago).

The skeleton of the baby Gryposaur is one of the most spectacular and important discoveries in palaeontology in recent times. A fully matured Gryposaurus adult would have been around 27 feet long. This baby Gryposaurus, found in a cliff face in the Judith River Formation of Montana, Western United States, measures just under nine feet in length and likely died in a catastrophic flash flood. This is one of only a small handful of Gryposaurus to have ever been discovered.

A source of fascination and wonder for generations, dinosaurs and other prehistoric fossils have become increasingly popular as a modern collectible in recent years. Sotheby’s has conducted numerous historic sales of Natural History, including the sale at US$8.3 million of “Sue”, the most complete T. rex fossil to have been discovered. Most recently in New York, “Apex”, the finest stegosaurus that ever appeared, made history at Sotheby’s to become the most valuable fossil ever sold publicly (US. $44.6 million), exceeding its pre-sale estimate by over 11 times.

Sotheby’s Maison leads as the first of 10 distinguished Maisons set to open as part of LANDMARK’s recently announced “Tomorrow’s CENTRAL” transformation. This pioneering collaboration offers a tantalising glimpse into the unparalleled experiences soon to unfold across the reimagined LANDMARK.

In celebration of Sotheby’s “Giants of The Ice Age: Travel To Prehistoric Earth With The Woolly Mammoth” exhibition at LANDMARK ATRIUM, between 16 - 29 August, the first 100 visitors per day to create a Sotheby’s account will have the opportunity to win custom-designed stickers inspired by wonders of the prehistoric world. This limited-edition sticker will also serve as the entry pass for participants to unlock an exclusive interactive experience at Sotheby's Maison.