If Treasures Could Talk: What secrets would the Owl Zun reveal?

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Time to check out some of China's most valuable ancient treasures. Today we continue our special series If Treasures Could Talk, and present to you the Owl Zun. It is a type of wine vessel used in ancient rituals. The owl zun was discovered in Fu Hao's tomb, the Queen of the Shang Dynasty.

You have a new message from an ancient treasure.

At first glance, it could be a dog.

In fact, it's an owl, crafted as a zun, a type of wine vessel used in ancient rituals.

The head is slightly raised, and the wings, folded. The tail serves as third, supporting leg. At half a metre tall, it's an impressive object. The body is covered in a dozen animal designs.

These small owl figurines are among the most popular souvenirs available at Henan Museum. They appeal especially to young people. A comment online claims that 3,000 years ago, China invented Angry Birds.

The owl zun was discovered in the tomb of the Shang Dynasty Queen, Fu Hao. The wife of King Wu Ding, she was China's original woman general, who helped usher in the golden age of Shang. She was remarkable for her time, in that she not only participated in major affairs of state, but also led armies into battle and presided over religious ceremonies.

People today tend to think of the owl zun as cute. However, this may not have been the intention of its creators.

The owl was a common motif in ancient China, even before the Shang Dynasty. Stone, pottery and bronze shaped into the form of an owl, were important objects in Shang rituals.

Certain parts of the owl are exaggerated. The sharp beak, belligerent face and plump legs are all clearly designed to emphasize the owl's ferocity.

To the Shang people, the owl was a sacred bird.

Some experts believe the owl was a war god. Others think it symbolized power and position. What we know for certain is that the Shang people believed they were descended from a "black bird", which could have been an owl.

Some scholars even argue that the character for "Shang" mimics an owl's face.

Whether the "black bird" of Shang really was an owl or not, owls were a common motif on bronze sacrificial vessels of the time.

Owls have been revered in other cultures, too. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, was often represented by an owl.

To the ancient Greeks, its ability to see at night meant the owl was a wise bird, capable of identifying the truth amid chaos.

Owls also appear in Shang stone figures. Sometimes fierce, sometimes distorted, they are inevitably simple, proud, and noble. Yet for three thousand years after the fall of Shang, owls were rarely depicted.

In later Chinese eras, the owl was considered inauspicious.

A line from the Zhou Dynasty Classic of Poetry, reads, "Oh owl! Oh Owl! You took my children and ruined my nest!"

More than eight hundred years after Shang, during the Eastern Han dynasty, the poet Jia Yi wrote, "Oh! Oh! The time is inauspicious. The luan and the phoenix hide, yet the owl soars on high."

A saying, warning of doom, goes, "Fear not the owl's cry, but its laugh".

A modern poem refers to the owl, "See me or not, I am always there. Nor glad, nor sad."

From noble to inauspicious to cute, it's not the owl that has changed, but our perceptions of it.