Beijing, December 13 news (reporter Song Xue) on the morning of the 13th, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage hosted a ceremony to donate cultural relics into the collection, the United States California Suzanne Fratus donated two Ming Dynasty pottery figurines in China officially into the Shanghai Museum. On the 2nd, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage guided the Shanghai Museum, organized experts to carry out physical appraisal, and confirmed that the two pottery figurines were historically used for burial, which had important collection value, and were precious physical materials for studying the ancient Chinese tomb system and pottery history, and were designated as national third-class cultural relics.
Ming Dynasty pottery figurines (courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, issued by the Central Broadcasting Network)
Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech at the Beijing venue, announcing the opening of the "Thousands of Rituals - Special Exhibition of Colorful Glazed Ceramic Figurines of the Ming Dynasty". The reporter learned that in April this year, the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco received a postal courier from Ms. Suzanne, which contained two colorful figurines and a letter, which told the origin of her family and the two clay figurines, expressing the hope that the cultural relics would be returned to the Chinese through the Chinese government and donated to the Shanghai Museum. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage attaches great importance to it and immediately organizes the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics and the Shanghai Museum to carry out related work such as cultural relics appraisal, judging that these two pottery figurines are Cultural Relics of China, which is more similar to a set of Ming Dynasty colored glazed pottery figurines collected by the Shanghai Museum. In September, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage respected Ms. Suzanne's wishes and designated the Shanghai Museum as the recipient of the two pottery figurines. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage cooperated with the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, Ms. Suzanne, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage, and the Shanghai Museum, and finally the two cultural relics entered Shanghai on November 26 and returned to the motherland.
On December 2, in accordance with the requirements of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Museum organized experts to carry out physical appraisal and confirmed that the two pottery figurines were Ming Dynasty funerary tools, which were precious physical materials for studying the ancient Chinese burial system and pottery history, with important collection value, and were determined to be third-class cultural relics. The two cultural relics are the same as the tire quality of a set of Ming Dynasty pottery figurines in the Shanghai Museum, and the low-temperature lead glaze process applied to the surface, and the shape and production style are very similar to the pointed hat figurines in it, which should be works from the same period and the same region.
Shanghai Museum "Thousands of Images - Special Exhibition of Colorful Glazed Ceramic Figurines of the Ming Dynasty" (Courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, issued by the Central Broadcasting Network)
"Thousands of Images - Special Exhibition of Colorful Glazed Ceramic Figurines of the Ming Dynasty" (screenshot from the website of Shanghai Museum)
The reporter learned from the Shanghai Museum that in accordance with the requirements of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Museum carefully prepared the "Special Exhibition of Thousands of Ritual Images -- Ming Dynasty Colored Glazed Pottery Figurines", and exhibited the two donated ceramic figurines together with the Ming Dynasty color glazed ceremony guards in the collection of the Museum in San Francisco that year, and then composed a good story. A total of 68 cultural relics are on display from November 30, 2021 to January 9, 2022. The Shanghai Museum said that in the past year, the exhibition of the Shanghai Museum began with "Zhuo Jie Welcome" and ended with "Thousands of Images", which has a special significance in welcoming the return of these two clay figurines on the occasion of retiring the old and welcoming the new.