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This piece is a masterpiece from a highly
inscrutable time and place – Neolithic China.
While the dynastic periods are comparatively well
studied and understood, the nature and
relationships of the early societies living in
agricultural communities between 4000 and
2000 BC are still somewhat nebulous. Even the
geography was different. When this piece was
made, it was much wetter, with most of Northern
China being swamps and marshes, and much of
the central area covered in an enormous lake.
The climate was warm and moist, rather than the
colder, arid China of today. The mountains were
well forested and there was a variety of animals.
Villages were small and arranged around prime
agricultural areas; village structure was based
along kinship lines. Most artistic expression was
achieved through ceramics, which were often
highly ornate and painted. Comparatively little is
known of religion, but there are some hints in
the iconography of the ceramics. For instance,
the 5th millennium BC site of Banpo (near Xi’an)
has produced ceramics with fantastical animals,
including, significantly, fish with human faces/
masks. These are unlikely to have been a
completely secular creation. The oldest religions
of East Asia – and indeed the world – are based
around a form of animism that bestows spiritual
characteristics upon natural phenomena, from
mountains to weather systems, and economic
staples have enjoyed similar reverence in other
parts of the world. It has been theorised that the
Banpo people, who lived in a riverine
environment, may have revered fish as their main
food source and expressed this on their
ceramics. It has further been suggested that they
even based some form of belief system around
fish – perhaps with a magically-trained individual
to perform ceremonies that guaranteed
prosperity in the forthcoming season, although
this is necessarily speculative. Numerous
subsequent and contemporary cultures
possessed animal effigies, and it has generally
been assumed that – due to the expertise and
time required to produce them – they must have
formed part of some belief system that
transcended mere secular diversion. One might
speculate that the effort involved in stone
carving would exceed that of pottery making,
and there is collateral evidence for this in the
jade works of the Liangzhu culture (Yangzi delta,
3300-2300 BC), which were almost all
zoomorphically decorated works in evidently
elite graves (amulets, ornaments, necklaces etc).
The rarity of works such as the current piece
argues against personalised ownership, and
instead for a wider audience within a substantial
community. The identity of the creature
portrayed is deliberately ambiguous, as it has a
clearly humanoid head with slanted coffee-bean
eyes (a marker of extreme antiquity in every
continent), a small raised nose connected to the
brows, and a small pursed mouth. The surface of
the head is covered with indented linear marks
possibly indicating hair, while the most forward-
pointing part of the piece is what appears to be
an ear. This might be challenged on the basis of
the rest of the piece, as it has hatching that
could be interpreted equally as feathers or fish-
scales, making the “ear” a beak or protuberant
mouth. The flat side of the piece has elevated
sections that could be seen as a tail (if a fish) or
furled wings (if a bird). Significantly, the piece
has an unadorned back and a plain base, so it
was clearly meant to be seen only from the front,
or from above. It might then have been mounted
into an altar, or been a decorative finial in some
other structure made of earth or similar. The
texture of the surface indicates that it was
worked at using abrasion and small hand tools,
so the quantity of work involved must have been
immense. Whether a deity of a spirit, this is a
truly significant and important masterwork, and
an invaluable addition to any serious collection.
- (H.510)
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