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.
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.
The two figurines will be exhibited on the same stage as a set of 66 Ming Dynasty color glazed guard figurines pottery in the Shanghai Museum at the "Thousands of Ritual Images - Ming Dynasty Colorful Glazed Pottery Figurines Special Exhibition" held at the Shanghai Museum.
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Source: CCTV News Client Reporter: Tian Yunhua
Editor-in-charge: Wang Yuanfang
Editor: Zhang Xueyu Sun Dai