This pair of jade owls are made from the same piece of jade. The two jade owls are similar in size and have the same carving techniques. The jade is bluish-white, with rice seepage inside and obvious traces of soil erosion and biting on the surface. You can see that there are associated crystals in the soil erosion pit. The Jade Owl looks up at the sky, with eyes shaped like the Chinese character “臣”, and slightly convex eyeballs. Its hooked beak is connected to its lower jaw to form a hole for ornaments. There is a ridge in the middle from the face to the beak, and the two sides are symmetrical. The ridge line and the edges are cut sharply, without any drag. A pair of ear-shaped feather crests hang behind the head. The wings are folded, and the claws are stretched forward, as if squatting. The whole body of the jade owl is decorated with double negative lines, the abdomen is decorated with wavy patterns, and the wings and ears are carved in relief, which was the most complex carving decoration technique at that time.
The overall shape of this pair of jade owls is a typical squatting owl shape of the Shang Dynasty. They are fully carved, meticulous, with sharp edges and corners, neat lines, and extremely high production standards. Generally, such carvings definitely represent that this pair of jade owls is of extraordinary origin and must have been made by the hands of the top craftsmen at that time.
