People's Daily Beijing, December 13 (Wei Yanxing) On December 13, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage hosted a ceremony for the donation of cultural relics into Tibet, and Ms. Suzanne Fratus of California, USA, donated two Ming Dynasty pottery figurines from China to the Shanghai Museum.
The two Ming Dynasty pottery figurines that returned this time
In April, the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco received a postal courier from Ms. Suzanne, containing two colorful figurines and a letter about her family's relationship with the two 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. After the cooperation of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage with the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, Ms. Suzanne, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics and the Shanghai Museum, the two cultural relics were returned to the motherland on November 26.
On December 2, the Shanghai Museum organized experts to carry out physical appraisal and confirmed that the two pottery figurines were Ming Dynasty funerary objects and 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.
According to reports, Ms. Susannah's grandfather practiced medicine in China and other Asian countries in the early 20th century, and after curing the eye disease of a rich Chinese family, he was given these two clay figurines as a thank you. 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. After the relevant person in charge of the Shanghai Museum identified the pottery figurines, it was judged that the cultural relics were likely to come from the tombs of nobles stolen in Chinese history. For nearly 40 years, Ms. Suzanne has been looking forward to returning the artifacts to Chinese people in a suitable manner.
Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that Ms. Susannah's righteous act of returning the pottery figurines to her homeland showed an admirable and noble character, expressed the common aspiration of the 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 repatriation of cultural relics, and promote more lost cultural relics to return home.
The scene of "Thousands of Yixiang - Special Exhibition of Colorful Glazed Pottery Figurines of the Ming Dynasty"
From now on, the two pottery figurines will meet the audience at the "Thousands of Ritual Images - Special Exhibition of Ming Dynasty Colored Glazed Ceramic Figurines" together with the Ming Dynasty color glazed figurines that were exhibited in San Francisco that year. The extension will last for one month.
(The pictures in this article are provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage)