Cultural Relic: Do You Know How Jade Phoenix Looks like?

Copyright: A Journey into China’s Antiquity– Chinese History in Cultural Relics, Blossom Press

At the bottom of Chinese heart, phoenix is the king of all birds. It bears people’s dreams and wishes. So, a lot of handiworks take phoenix’s image.

With its head turning around, this yellowish-brown jade phoenix presents a side view of the bird. It has the beak and comb of a cock, round eyes, short wings with feathers carved in relief, and a long tail with forked feathers. Two holes are on the bird’s breast, and a round knob with a small hole is on its flank, probably for wearing the object as a pendant.

The ornament indicates that late Shang craftsmen had already mastered the techniques of drilling, hollowing out and polishing in jade carving.

Jade ornaments was so translucent even after thousands of years probably because it was polished with animal skin or silk fabric dipped in a mixture of water and fine sand.