Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
Recently, the Shanghai Museum held the "Thousands of YiXiang - Special Exhibition of Ming Dynasty Colored Glazed Ceramic Figurines".
In September 2021, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China respected Ms. Suzanne's wishes and designated the two figurines to be located in the Shanghai Museum. (Courtesy photo: State Administration of Cultural Heritage)
In the "Thousands of Images - Special Exhibition of Ming Dynasty Colorful Glazed Clay Figurines", two ceramic figurines are exhibited together with the Ming Dynasty colored glazed figurines that have been exhibited in San Francisco.
"If they could speak, they would tell the world many things: be kind to people, respect each other, help each other. The two figurines returned to their homeland, not through money or political means, but because of the power of love and respect for the Chinese people. ”
Ms. Susannah's message (courtesy of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage)
A few days ago, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage hosted a ceremony for the donation of cultural relics into Tibet online, and Ms. Suzanne Flatus of California, USA, donated two Ming Dynasty pottery figurines from China to the Shanghai Museum.
Witness a century of history
Back in the early 20th century, Ms. Suzanne's grandfather, John Herbert Witt, practiced medicine in China, obtained two clay figurines, brought them back to the United States, and handed them 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. Suzanne has always loved ancient Chinese science and Excellent Chinese traditional 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.
Embark on the road to "coming home"
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 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 immediately organized the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics and the Shanghai Museum to carry out cultural relics appraisal and other related work, judging that the two pottery figurines were Chinese cultural relics, which was 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, 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 tomb 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.
Promote more lost cultural relics to "go home"
Zhou Maoyi, deputy consul general of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, said that Ms. Susannah's donation of ancient cultural relics lost from China to the United States and returned to the people of Chinese is a very warm and noble act of righteousness, reflecting the mutual understanding and friendship between the chinese and American peoples.
Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that Ms. Suzanne's righteous act of returning the pottery figurines to her homeland showed an admirable and noble character, showed the friendship of ordinary Americans for the people of Chinese, demonstrated the "true value of art" contained in the return of cultural relics, and expressed the common desire of people of all countries to work together to protect human cultural heritage, which 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 more lost cultural relics to "go home". (Reporter Zhao Xiaoxia)
People's Daily Overseas Edition ( December 20, 2021, 11th edition)