Fragment of Figure with Human Body and Bird’s Feet, List#18

Narrator

This fragment appears to be the bottom half of a human figure, with its thighs and calves transforming into the claws of a bird. The bird feet grasp the head of another bird. Was the whole piece some sort of human-bird hybrid? Birds are a recurring theme in the art of Sanxingdui. They also appear in later Chinese cultures, where birds are a symbol of the sun and transcendence–the ability to fly up to the heavens and communicate with the gods.

At the bottom, the design is tightly worked in a repeated pattern. This is a common feature in the artifacts from both Sanxingdui and Jinsha. While its function remains a mystery, researchers do know a little more about how the piece would have originally appeared.

Suzanne Cahill

A lot of these pieces had lacquer residue. I think it shows that the metal that we see today is not the exact original appearance that it would have had, that it would have been much more highly colored when it was first made. And now we're just seeing sort of the metal underneath. And that makes me think of the Greek statues that we think are so beautiful and pure and classical and white. Sort of ignoring, or not knowing that they were painted with really bright, gaudy colors.