Page 456 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

cal examples of Tang decorative treatment of nar- was very likely a present from the Chinese court to
row bands. the Japanese emperor Shomu, who died in 756 and
Colorful red and green parrots often appear in whose possessions were dedicated to the Todai-ji
Buddhist Paradise paintings of the seventh and forty-nine days after his death. 4 RW
eighth centuries, and they were evidently much
sought after. 3 Flocks of parrots populated the Long 1 Excavated in 1970; published: Han Wei 1989.
2 Han Wei 1989, 224.
Mountains on the border between the provinces of 3 The examples that follow are derived from Schafer's inspir-
Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, defying easy capture. ing study of Tang exotics (1963), 96-103.
Others came from further afield: Qinghai and Tibet, 4 Schafer 1963,135.
as well as Indochina, were sources of parrots, but
the most celebrated of all were the "five-colored"
parrots imported from Oceania, one of which was
the subject of a rhapsody composed on the order of
Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756 CE). A musical in-
strument, decorated with parrots inlaid in amber,
tortoiseshell, and mother-of-pearl, in the Shoso-in,

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