At 10:00 a.m. on the 13th, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage hosted a ceremony to donate cultural relics into the collection, and Ms. Suzanne Fratus of California, USA, donated two Ming Dynasty pottery figurines in China to be officially entered into the Shanghai Museum.
Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, breakthroughs have been made in the recovery and return of lost cultural relics in China. This time, Ms. Susanna, a resident of California, returned the two clay figurines to the Chinese, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage coordinated with the Chinese Embassy in the United States, the Consulate General in San Francisco and the relevant departments of Shanghai Municipality to jointly promote the smooth return of cultural relics to the motherland. Ms. Suzanne's righteous act of returning the pottery figurines to her homeland shows an admirable and noble character, shows the friendship of ordinary Americans for the people of Chinese, highlights the "true value of art" contained in the return of cultural relics, expresses the common desire of people of all countries to work together to protect the cultural heritage of mankind, and will surely lead more people from all walks of life to pay attention to and support the recovery and return of cultural relics, and promote the return of more lost cultural relics. We are willing to work with the international community to jointly safeguard the achievements of human civilization, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and make unremitting efforts to practice the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Ms Suzanne's video said she was honored to return the two figurines to Chinese people. The separation of the two terracotta figurines has witnessed a hundred years of history and inspired people to be friendly, respect each other, and help each other. She admired China's beautiful cultural and artistic achievements and decided to return it to her homeland. The two figurines return, not through monetary or political means, but because of the power of love and respect for the Chinese people.
Zhou Maoyi, deputy consul general of the Consulate General in San Francisco, said that Ms. Suzanne's donation of ancient cultural relics lost to the United States in China and returned to the Chinese people is a very warm and noble act of righteousness, reflecting the mutual understanding and friendship between the chinese and American peoples. It is hoped that through the two pottery figurines exhibited in Tibet, more people will appreciate the value of Sino-US friendship and promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations.
According to reports, in April this year, the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco received a postal courier from Ms. Suzanne, which contained two colorful photos of the figurines and a letter, which described the origin of her family and the two figurines, and clearly expressed the hope that the cultural relics would be donated to the Shanghai Museum through the Chinese government and returned to the Chinese. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage immediately organized and carried out relevant work such as picture identification, and after a large number of investigations and analysis, it was preliminarily judged that these two clay figurines were indeed Cultural Relics in China, which was more similar to a set of Ming Dynasty color glazed pottery figurines collected by the Shanghai Museum, and then asked the Shanghai Cultural Relics Bureau and the Shanghai Museum to study and judge the relevant situation of the pottery figurines themselves and the next step of placement.
In August, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage approved the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, designating the Shanghai Museum as the recipient of the two pottery figurines, and requiring the return, delivery and transportation of cultural relics. In the following three months, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage repeatedly communicated and coordinated with the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, Ms. Suzanne, the Shanghai Cultural Relics Bureau, the Shanghai Museum and other parties, especially with the strong support of our Consulate General in San Francisco, and finally on November 26, the return of cultural relics was completed, and the pottery figurines officially returned to the motherland.
On December 2, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage guided the Shanghai Museum to organize experts to carry out physical appraisal and confirmed that the two clay figurines were historically used for burial, the same as the tire quality of a set of 66 Ming Dynasty pottery figurines in the Shanghai Museum, the low-temperature lead glaze applied on the surface, and the shape and production style were very similar, especially consistent with the 7 pointed hat figurines, but there were slight differences in details, not a set, and should be works from the same period and the same region. The two pottery figurines have important collection value and are precious physical materials for studying the ancient Chinese tomb system and the history of pottery making, and have been designated as national third-class cultural relics.
Ms. Suzanne's grandfather, John Herbert Waite, practiced medicine in China in the early 20th century and obtained two clay figurines, which were brought back to the United States and later handed over to Ms. Suzanne to inherit. In 1983, in order to celebrate the sister cities between Shanghai and San Francisco, the Shanghai Museum went to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco to hold "Shanghai Museum Collection - 6,000 Years of Chinese Art Exhibition". Ms. Suzanne found that a set of honor guard figurines exhibited on the exhibition was very similar to the pottery figurines in her collection. The person in charge of the Shanghai Museum told him that the pottery figurines should come from the tombs of Chinese stolen nobles. Ms. Susannah has always loved ancient Chinese science and Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture, and has admired the Chinese people, and in the past 40 years, she has always looked forward to returning cultural relics to the Chinese people in a suitable way.
In accordance with the requirements of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Museum carefully prepared the "Special Exhibition of Thousands of YiXiang - Ming Dynasty Colored Glazed Pottery Figurines", and exhibited the two donated pottery 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 exhibited in the exhibition, and the exhibition period is one month.
Source: Synthesized from BRTV News, CCTV News Client
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