Period:Shang dynasty Production date:15thC BC-10thC BC
Materials:jade, cinnabar (traces),
Technique:incised, polished,
Subjects:bird
Dimensions:Height: 3.90 centimetres Width: 4.10 centimetres
Description:
Bird pendant of green jade with areas of calcification with traces of cinnabar.
IMG
![图片[1]-pendant BM-2022-3034.107-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Shang dynasty/Jades/51_.jpg)
Comments:This stylized bird is represented in profile with a small beak with notched crest feathers, short tail feathers and clawed feet. The body is decorated with double-line incisions on both sides. There are three bi-conical perforations. Shang. See Ip Yee 1983 and Loo 1950. This pendant is very angular: a small bifurcated plume projects beyond the straight line of a bird’s head and tail, and the top of the head is also straight. The bird has a small pointed beak, a rounded breast and a claw beneath is body. Its eye, breast and tail feathers are demarcated by double incised lines, with additional scrolls filling the back. Both sides of the pendant are the same. Holes pierce the head plume and the bottom of the body. The jade is lightly polished. The very angular rendering of the bird is reminiscent of the decoration on bronze ritual vessels. Only rarely do jades mirror such aspects of bronze design. The sharp angles and lines determine the form rather than the natural features of the bird, in much the same way that the compartmented system of bronze decoration determined the evolution of motifs on bronzes. This bird is also reminiscent of the dragon at cat.no.12.13 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.143], where the shape of the fitting dictated the way in which the creature was shown. Both these examples belong to a stage in the development of jade pendants when earlier motifs taken over from the Neolithic were being modified with reference to Shang bronze practices. This development has already been illustrated by the coiled dragon motif of cat.no.12.4 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.115]. See Rawson 1995, p.220, cat.no.12.15.
Materials:jade, cinnabar (traces),
Technique:incised, polished,
Subjects:bird
Dimensions:Height: 3.90 centimetres Width: 4.10 centimetres
Description:
Bird pendant of green jade with areas of calcification with traces of cinnabar.
IMG
Comments:This stylized bird is represented in profile with a small beak with notched crest feathers, short tail feathers and clawed feet. The body is decorated with double-line incisions on both sides. There are three bi-conical perforations. Shang. See Ip Yee 1983 and Loo 1950. This pendant is very angular: a small bifurcated plume projects beyond the straight line of a bird’s head and tail, and the top of the head is also straight. The bird has a small pointed beak, a rounded breast and a claw beneath is body. Its eye, breast and tail feathers are demarcated by double incised lines, with additional scrolls filling the back. Both sides of the pendant are the same. Holes pierce the head plume and the bottom of the body. The jade is lightly polished. The very angular rendering of the bird is reminiscent of the decoration on bronze ritual vessels. Only rarely do jades mirror such aspects of bronze design. The sharp angles and lines determine the form rather than the natural features of the bird, in much the same way that the compartmented system of bronze decoration determined the evolution of motifs on bronzes. This bird is also reminiscent of the dragon at cat.no.12.13 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.143], where the shape of the fitting dictated the way in which the creature was shown. Both these examples belong to a stage in the development of jade pendants when earlier motifs taken over from the Neolithic were being modified with reference to Shang bronze practices. This development has already been illustrated by the coiled dragon motif of cat.no.12.4 [2014,AsiaLoan,1.115]. See Rawson 1995, p.220, cat.no.12.15.
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