LATE SHANG-EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY, 12TH-11TH CENTURY BC

This well-carved jade bird-form finial or insignia is unusual in its thickness. Like other bird pendants of the late Shang period, it has a short hooked beak, prominent chest and bent legs. The crest on the head sweeps back and then up at the tip, in contrast to that on a related green jade bird pendant of slightly smaller size excavated in 1976 from the Tomb of Fu Hao, Yinxu, Anyang, Henan province, with upright and notched in the center. See Yeung Kin-Fong, Zhongguo chutu guyu, vol. 1, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. XIII:4, and p. 237. On this latter figure the details of the wings appear to be in linear relief, rather than delineated in fine double grooves as on the current carving. Another related, but more simply carved bird pendant of yellowish-green color excavated in 1980 in Shaanxi province, which also appears to be quite thick, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu yuqi, vol. 2, Hebei, 1993, p. 118, pl. 165. Both of these examples have a concave back, while another thick jade bird pendant in the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 218, no. 12:14, has the wings and tail projecting from the back of the figure.
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One of the interesting features of the current bird carving is how accentuated the concave curve of the back is. When held in the hand, the bird's head is enclosed in the palm, and the thumb fits very comfortably in the curve of the back.