Finial in the form of a human hybrid

• 1. (Thomas Lawton, 1987) Exhibition In Praise of Ancestors label text; moved to label field.
   
  2. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.
   
  3. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2010) Object name changed from "Pendant: monster" to "Jewelry"; Title changed from "Pendant (pei 珮): monster" to "Pendant (pei 珮) in the form of a monster."
   
  4. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, October 20, 2010) Title changed from "Pendant (pei 珮) in the form of a monster" to "Fitting in the form of a supernatural creature"; Object name from "Jewelry" to "Fitting"; Date changed from "11th century BCE" to "ca. 1050--771 BCE"; added to Medium "with traces of cinnabar."
  

  5. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, February 3, 2020) Title changed from "Fitting in the form of a supernatural creature" to "Finial in the form of a human hybrid"; Medium changed from "Jade (nephrite) with traces of cinnabar" to "Jade (nephrite)"; added Chinese Caption by Jingmin Zhang; and Object name changed from "Fitting" to "Jewelry".

  Added the following to the Description field, "Human head pendant with incised bird body; pierced; translucent gray. (Deposits; otherwise good condition.)"

  
  

Bird-man fitting or finial
Early Western Zhou 周 period, 1050--1000 BCE
Northwest China, middle Yellow river basin
Nephrite, translucent banded pale gray green
Height 5.70 cm; width 2.27 cm; maximum 1.24 cm thick

This is much smaller than the previous example (S1987.882) but comparably thick. It is considerably simpler in design, showing a large humanoid face over a bird-like body described by wing and tail feathers and a clawed leg. The claws below are pierced by a hole, presumably for attachment. The face is characterized by a flat nose and strong chin and jaws like the faces on S1987.860 and S1987.882. Its silhouette is more compact and smooth: there are virtually no excrescences or notches. Surface details are executed as slightly beveled incised lines.

• John Johnston, Chan Lai Pik. 5000 Years of Chinese Jade. Exh. cat. San Antonio, Texas, 2011. cat. 26, p. 61.
• J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
• "全球化背景下考古學新前沿 : 解讀中國古代傳統." Quan qiu hua bei jing xia kao gu xue xin qian yan: jie du Zhongguo gu dai chuan tong [New Frontiers in Global Archaeology: Defining China's Ancient Traditions]. New York, 2008. p. 310.