The New York Times is reporting the fountain outside the Plaza Hotel at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue will be home to the 12 monumental bronze animal heads sculpted by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei starting May 2 through July 15. The sculpture, “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads” was inspired by the fabled fountain-clock of the Yuanming Yuan, an 18th-century imperial retreat just outside Beijing. In 1860, French and British troops ransacked the Yuanming Yuan, pillaging the heads. Seven of them have since been located — the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, horse, monkey and boar — the other five are still missing. The work was first shown at the Sao Paulo Biennale.
