Finial in the form of a bird with dragon

• 1. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.
   
  2. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, June 14, 2010) Object name changed from "Pendant: bird" to "Jewelry"; title from "Pendant (Pei 珮): bird" to "Pendant (Pei 珮) in the form of a bird."

  3. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, 8/1/17) Title changed from "Pendant (pei) in the form of a bird" to "Fitting in the form of a bird with dragon"; period one changed from "Shang or Western Zhou dynasty" to "Forgery in the style of the late Shang dynasty, Anyang period (ca. 1300-1050 BCE)"; date changed from "11th century BCE" to "20th century"; medium changed from "jade" to "Jade (nephrite)".

  4. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, July 25, 2018) Title changed from "Fitting in the form of a bird with dragon" to "Finial in the form of a bird with dragon"; added the following to the description, "A hole in the foot may indicate that this small sculptural object was fixed in a stand to serve as a statuette. It could also have been used as a pendant, especially since there is a bore-hole in the lower edge of the beak. The representation is that of a bird of prey, possibly an owl. Its head is surmounted by a kuei [kui] 夔 dragon, which assumes a protective position. A cowry shell is engraved below the eye. (Streaks of creamy calcification; deposits; end roughened, pitted.)"; added past label text; and added unpublished research by Jenny F. So.

Draft catalogue entry for S1987.519; by Jenny F. So (2003) 

Bird-shaped fitting or finial
Shang 商 period, 1300--1100 BCE
Anyang 安陽
Nephrite, pale bluish-gray with dark streaks
Height 8.94 cm; width 3.43 cm; 1.27 cm thick
Former A. W. Bahr collection
Gift of Arthur M. Sackler
S1987.519

A thick, almost columnar piece of jade forms this finial in the shape of a large bird. Instead of a tall crest, a small animal surmounts its head. It has the upturned tail of a tiger, but the horns of a dragon, and just one set of legs. Its mouth is wide open as if it wants to devour the much larger bird below. The scrolled designs on the bodies of the bird and dragon, the bird's circular eyes, and clawed leg are all executed in pseudo-relief lines. "V"-shapes mark the bird's beak; similar "V"-patterns run down the front and back edges of the carving. The tab at the bottom is broken leaving an uneven edge.

Birds surmounted by feline-dragons occur among jades recovered from Anyang 安陽 and related contexts. Examples in jades and bronzes have come from Anyang 安陽 and their sudden appearance there has been explained as [an] influx of decorative trends from the south. [1] Although most examples showing a bird surmounted by a feline-dragon are flat, this particular specimen is unusual in its generous thick cross-section that evokes the columnar finials associated with the late Neolithic Shijiahe 石家河 context (see S1987.930), thus providing yet a further link with the south.

An exceptionally grand example, also showing a rather small feline-dragon crouched on top of a large bird, was recovered from the early Western Zhou 周 tomb of the Chang 長 clan in Luyi 鹿邑 Taiqinggong 太清宮, Henan 河南 province. [2] This extraordinary example is worked from an unusual slab of dark blackish-green jade. Here, the small animal shows scalloped markings on its body typically associated with tigers, although the rest of it is still dragon-like. Pseudo-relief lines describe all surface motifs, in classic Shang 商 workmanship, indicating that Shang商 style designs and techniques continued to be used at least in the early years of Zhou 周 rule. [3]

[1] For jade and bronze examples from Fu Hao's 婦好 tomb, see Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu Fu Hao mu 殷墟婦好墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), pls. 24:1, 141:2; see also Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing (London: British Museum Press, 1995), p. 207, fig. 4a-b.

[2] See Henan sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo 河南省文物考古研究所 and Zhoukou shi wenhuaju 周口市文化局, Luyi Taiqinggong Changzikou mu 鹿邑太清宮長子口墓 (Zhengzhou: Zhouzhou guji chubanshe, 2000). It does not appear to have served as a finial or fitting because there is no tab extending from the claw. An unfinished hole in the middle of an extension at the top might have been for suspension. Although archaeologists reported it as a pendant (huang 璜), the function of this piece is far from clear.

[3] Based on inscribed bronzes from the tomb, scholars agree that M1 at Luyi 鹿邑 probably belongs to a survivor or descendent of the Shang 商 royal family, who would reasonably have Shang 商 or Shang 商 -style artifacts buried with him.

• Alfred Salmony. Carved Jade of Ancient China. Berkeley, 1938. pl. 16, no. 6.
• J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .