There is a new exhibition in Shangbo, this time the protagonists are two clay figurines from the Ming Dynasty. When I received the news, I was muttering, the pottery figurines of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty are worth money, I believe, is it necessary for the pottery figurines of the Ming Dynasty to move the masses? The last thing that caught me was the story behind the artifacts.
In April, the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco received a package containing photographs of two terracotta figurines and a letter. The sender was Ms. Suzanne Fratus of California. In the letter, she said the two figurines were relics of her grandfather and hoped to donate them free of charge to the Shanghai Museum and return them to the Chinese people.
Suzanne's grandfather, Mr. Werther, was a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard University and went to Practice Medicine in China in the early 2000s. Because he had cured the eye disease of a rich man's son, the old man was happy and sent two clay figurines to Waite as a thank you. They are dressed in blue right-hand robes, belts around the waist, the movements are meticulous, the expression is vivid, very exquisite, Mr. Werther liked it very much, and brought it back to the United States.
In 1983, in order to celebrate the sister city between Shanghai and San Francisco, Shangbo went to San Francisco to hold an exhibition. Witt took his granddaughter on a tour and found that his collection was very similar to that of one of the 66 clay figurines in the Ming Dynasty colored glaze ceremonial guard. When I asked, I learned that these were the burial items of the tombs of ancient Chinese nobles. So Mr. Waiter had the idea of returning two clay figurines to China. Nearly 40 years later, Suzanne finally fulfilled her grandfather's last wishes, and the two cultural relics were finally returned to their homeland.
Therefore, this time, while receiving two cultural relics, Shangbo will also display the group of honor guards that went to the United States to exhibit that year. After the appraisal of Shangbo experts, the two returned pottery figurines and the ming dynasty pottery figurines in the museum are the same as the tire quality and low-temperature lead glaze applied on the surface, and the shape and style are also very similar, especially with the 7 pointed hat figurines, which should be the same period and the same region, which has important research value for the study of China's ancient tomb system and pottery making time, and is determined to be a national third-level cultural relic.
Suzanne said: "It is my honor to return these two exquisite works of art to you, Chinese people. ”
In recent years, more and more Chinese cultural relics that have been lost overseas have returned to the motherland. Ms. Suzanne donated two figurines to the Chinese Museum, showing the friendship of ordinary Americans for Chinese people and highlighting the "true value of art" contained in the cultural relics themselves. As she says, they return not because of money or politics; but because of the power of love and respect for Chinese.
(Look at the news Knows reporter: Zhang Haiyan Video editor: Li Shuxin Intern Editor: Yin Yixing)