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Lot Essay
The Shang people believed they were descended from a black bird, thus bird motifs were particularly popular on works of art from the Shang dynasty, especially on bronzes and jade carvings.
The owl was a highly important motif in the art of the Shang dynasty. It was represented in round sculptural forms in various media such as jade, marble, and bronze. It also appeared as surface decoration on a small group of important archaic bronzes. The style of carving of the owl seen on the present ornament is very similar to a jade carving of owl excavated from the tomb of Fu Hao at Anyang, illustrated in The Jades from Yinxu, Beijing, 1981, no. 61. While the kui-dragon head surmounting the owl is similarly found on other Shang jade carvings of birds, such as a jade carving of a parrot also from the tomb of Fu Hao, illustrated ibid., no. 43; a jade carving of a hawk excavated from tomb M63 of the Jin Marquis mausoleum, Shanxi province, now in the Shanxi Museum, and illustrated in Rare Treasure in Shanxi Museum, 2005, p. 77; and a jade bird-form pendant in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Great National Treasures of China: Masterworks in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, p. 101, no. 49 (fig. 1).
The owl was a highly important motif in the art of the Shang dynasty. It was represented in round sculptural forms in various media such as jade, marble, and bronze. It also appeared as surface decoration on a small group of important archaic bronzes. The style of carving of the owl seen on the present ornament is very similar to a jade carving of owl excavated from the tomb of Fu Hao at Anyang, illustrated in The Jades from Yinxu, Beijing, 1981, no. 61. While the kui-dragon head surmounting the owl is similarly found on other Shang jade carvings of birds, such as a jade carving of a parrot also from the tomb of Fu Hao, illustrated ibid., no. 43; a jade carving of a hawk excavated from tomb M63 of the Jin Marquis mausoleum, Shanxi province, now in the Shanxi Museum, and illustrated in Rare Treasure in Shanxi Museum, 2005, p. 77; and a jade bird-form pendant in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Great National Treasures of China: Masterworks in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, p. 101, no. 49 (fig. 1).