SONG-MING DYNASTY, 10TH-17TH CENTURY

There is an unusual intimacy conveyed by this carving of an adult bird and its young. The recumbent adult is shown with head turned as it raises one wing to help support the fledgling that has just hopped onto its back and has its wings spread as it tries to balance. The curved posture of the fledgling not only shows its vulnerability, but also helps to create a graceful oval shape as it bridges the curve of the backward-turned head and the upward curve of the raised wing of the adult. A similar dynamic relationship can be seen in a small jade carving of an eagle attacking a dog, where the recumbent dog has turned its head to look at the eagle which stands on its back with spread wings, the outlines of the carving forming a triangle. This carving, also in the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Cheng Te-K'un, is illustrated by J. Rawson and J. Ayers in Chinese Jade throughout the ages, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1975, no. 238, and again by Wu Hung and Brian Morgan in Chinese Jades from the Mu-Fei Collection, Bluett & Sons, London, 1990, no. 42.