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Xi'an newly discovered Tomb Stone of Huang Tianzhen Wenzhen of The Great Tang Dynasty Ruizong

author:Archaeological Express

Xi'an newly discovered Tomb Stone of Huang Tianzhen Wenzhen of The Great Tang Dynasty Ruizong

Journal of Northwest University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), No. 1, 2008

Qiao Lianxue, a cultural relics enthusiast in Xi'an, recently collected a tomb stone from Wufang Town in the Tang Dynasty, which was verified to be buried in the tomb of Li Dan of Tang Ruizong or Empress Dou in Qiaoling (Pucheng County, Shaanxi). Because of the special identity of the owner of the tomb, coupled with the fact that it is the highest-grade town tomb carved stone seen so far, "it is also known to be the most complete and the most exquisitely decorated carved stone about the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty" (Wang Yu idiom), making this carved stone have a high historical and cultural relics value and artistic value. It has aroused great interest among antiquities experts and historians.

The color of the carved stone is blue-gray, and the cover and bottom are one, which is a combination. The cover stone is square, with a side length of 74 cm and a thickness of 12∙5 cm, and the base stone is also square, with a side length of 73 cm and a thickness of 15∙5 cm. There is a pegasus-shaped unicorn pattern in the middle of the top of the Gaishi Cup, which is the central guardian deity of one of the five spirits of Taoism, and there are 12 auspicious clouds carved around it. In the center of the carved stone at the bottom, there are 16 characters of Taoist rune seals, a total of four lines, each line of four characters, arranged in four directions. The collectors of Zhenshi have consulted many experts, but no one can understand, and then the Xi'an Museum came forward to invite Wang Yucheng, a famous Taoist historical and cultural expert in China and a researcher at the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, to help identify and determine the value of zhenshi's writing and historical relics. According to Wang Yucheng's appraisal, it is believed that these 16 Taoist seal characters are: "Huang Zhongzong, Tongzhi Infinity, Zhenxing Tuhui, Liulian Shrine". These 16-character calligraphy is powerful, skillful in knife skills, and smooth lines, which is the finest art of Taoist calligraphy and stone carving. There are 161 lishu side texts around the 4 sides of the 16-character seal, which are read in a four-way rotation, and the full text is as follows:

Central Huang Tiancheng YuanShifu Ordered the Central Nine Fortress Tufu Dongji Shenxiang Four Dimensions Of The Spirit Officials Now There is The Great Tang Ruizong Great Saint True Emperor Li Dan Zhaocheng (right) Empress Dou Clan Extinction Degree Five Immortals Ling Xuan Yin Now In Jingzhao Province Fengxian County Jie'an Palace Erection Room Shelter After Tu Ming Chengzheng Yi (Fa) Comfort Fu Huang Yuan Feeding Rao (Bottom) Flowing Footing Fengquan Lian Fang (played) Shaped Skeleton Fang Xiang and God Tongyuan Billion Robbery Long Survival Yue Song Gao Ming Kai Long Night Nine Shadows House Ruizong Great Saint True Emperor (left) Soul Bathing Crown Belt Moved to the Nangong to Supply Clothing and Food Chieftain in the Bright Devil Gang Gang Guilt One All Divine Spirit Guards An Zhen Ru Yuan Shi Ming True Old Classic Female Qingwen (top)

The above-mentioned side text, the font is neat and beautiful, and the content also has important academic research value.

The four sides of the primer are also 12 animal line engravings, in order: cow, goose, crab, dog, wolf, jackal, sheep, eagle, dragon, jiao, fish, turtle.

According to the 161 characters of the bianwen, it can be judged that this square carved stone should be a cultural relic in the tomb of Li Dan of Tang Ruizong or Empress Dou.

According to Wang Yucheng's preliminary study of the stone carving, the appraisal opinion is:

The inscriptions (including seals) and ornamental patterns of the stone carvings contain rich historical and cultural information. From a historical point of view alone, there are three important contributions: First: the history of evidence, which can be corroborated with historical documents, such as the confirmation of a series of historical facts such as the death and burial of Emperor Li Dan of the Tang Dynasty, the burial of Empress Dou of Zhaocheng, and so on. Second: change the history, revise some of the errors in the written records, such as the Old Book of Tang and the Records of Ruizong, which says: "Emperor Shangzun was known as the Great Shengzhen Emperor". The word "Zhen" in this is a misrepresentation, when Yi Qiaolian learned to hide the carved stone was changed to "Great Saint True Emperor". Third: Supplementary history, such as the two "Book of Tang" and related documents record the funeral of Qiaoling, never mentioned that the Taoist funeral rite was used when building the tomb, and the carved stone suggests that the qiaoling used the ritual of "Taishang Lingbao Cave Xuan extinction degree five practice corpse magic scriptures", which greatly supplemented and enriched the academic understanding of the funeral rites of the tang dynasty emperor, and so on. Even the ornamental motifs of the town's stones have profound ideological connotations. For example, the Pegasus-shaped unicorn pattern line carving on the top of the stone cup is not only vivid and beautiful, but also a rare product on the carved stone of the Tang Dynasty, which has a close relationship with the belief in the Five Spirits and is extremely precious. For another example, the twelve animal lines on the four sides of the bottom stone are smoothly refined, and the animal shape is very different from the twelve-chen pattern commonly found in the general Tang stone, which is a rare work.

The tomb stones of the Central Huangtian Town provide important physical materials for the study of the burial system of the Tang Dynasty royal family, the development of religious culture in the Tang Dynasty, and the art of stone carving in the Tang Dynasty. Many scholars are conducting research on many aspects of the carved stone. Collectors decided to donate it to the newly built Xi'an Museum.

Xi'an newly discovered Tomb Stone of Huang Tianzhen Wenzhen of The Great Tang Dynasty Ruizong

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