| Original Message: Re: Re: Re: Fu Hao's Jade Phoenix |
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Hello Sallie, Thanks for the photo. I agree with Will about this one although it is somewhat shocking that this piece which is probably the most photographed jade from Fu Hao's tomb should be copied so inexpertly and that the substitution would go unnoticed. The Fu Hao phoenix is actually considered to be a much earlier piece from the late neolithic Shijiahe culture which shows that the phoenix has been with us for a long time. Did this museum show other jades purportedly from the Fu Hao tomb? Some of these jades are very striking and are among the most copied of all ancient jades -- the coiled dragon for example. In later and modern times the phoenix motif became standardized and like many later Chinese forms lost all the vitality and inventiveness of the early pieces. Even in the Eastern Zhou and Han, many of the pieces and many with phoenixes are already too uniform and predictable. After seeing many of these examples, I was surprised and excited to see some late Eastern Zhou/Early Han phoenixes excavated in 2004. These jades were published by the Cultural Relics Press as "One of the top ten archaeological discoveries of China in 2004" Terry All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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