Today is the "winter solstice", in ancient folklore there is a "winter solstice as big as the year" saying, the winter solstice is an auspicious day, the Book of Han said: "The winter solstice yang qi rises, the king is long, so he." "After the winter solstice, the days are getting longer and longer, the sun is rising, everything is recovering, and it should be celebrated." At the Shanghai Libo, an exhibition related to traditional Chinese culture - "Fulu Shouxi Beautiful Life - Chinese Auspicious Culture Special Exhibition" opened today. From precious specimens of tigers, horses and monkeys to the first-class protected animal DaBang, the first-class cultural relics gilded deer pattern three-legged silver plate, etc., the exhibition uses nearly 300 exhibits in natural, historical, artistic and other categories to tell the source of China's auspicious cultural development and its profound impact on traditional Chinese culture.
"Fulu Shouxi Beautiful Life - Chinese Auspicious Culture Special Exhibition" exhibition site
In the long river of traditional Chinese culture that has lasted for thousands of years, auspicious culture is a very important tributary. The ancestors skillfully used characters, animals, flowers and birds, words, etc., through metaphors, analogies, puns, harmonics, symbols and other techniques to express their yearning for an auspicious and beautiful life.
So what is "auspicious"? Chen Hanhong, deputy director of the Urban History Research Department of the Shanghai Municipal History Museum, explained to the surging news reporter that the so-called "auspicious" means good, and "auspicious" is the symbol of all good, combining the specific good with the good of the symbol as a kind of auspiciousness. The specific category of auspiciousness includes five categories and three more, namely "Fulu Shou Xi Cai, many children and many grandchildren and many lives."
Stepping into the exhibition hall of Shanghai Libo, the first exhibit is a tiger biological specimen from the Zhejiang Natural History Museum. The exhibition begins with a tiger and takes the tiger as the starting point, not only to welcome the arrival of the Year of the Tiger, but also to reflect the current survival status of the tiger and reveal the relationship between man and tiger, man and nature.
Exhibition site Tiger biological specimens
In addition to tigers, visitors can also find living biological specimens such as sheep, horses, bats, monkeys, deer, tigers and so on in the exhibition hall. "In traditional Chinese culture, this harmonic sound is often used to express auspicious meanings and yearning for a better life, so animals such as sheep, monkeys, and bats are also given auspicious meanings." Chen Hanhong said. For example, there are Sanyang Kaitai related to sheep, bat-related such as Hong Fuqitian, monkey-related such as Worship Xiangfenghou, and chicken-related such as crowning...
So what auspicious meanings do these auspicious words contain? Visitors can find out in the exhibition hall.
For example, Sanyang Kaitai, "In ancient times, 'yang' and 'sheep' were homophonous, and 'sheep' was 'yang'; 'Tai' was a name for gua, which means that winter goes to spring, yin disappears and yang is long, and there is the image of Ji Heng." 'Sanyang Kaitai' means that evil is removed, good luck is opened, and blessings follow. ”
"Bat" harmonic "Fu", so the auspicious pattern is often "bat" instead of "Fu", in traditional culture, bat " means "all the blessing", the arrival of the bat symbolizes "into the blessing", so the bat is also a mascot.
And "monkey" and "Hou" homophony, from the Tang and Song dynasties, the Han people generally regard the monkey as a mascot symbolizing promotion, is the representative of the developed nobility, exorcism of evil and Nafu; "crown" and "official" are harmonious, so "crown on the crown" means "official on the official"...
Chen Hanhong said that the expression of traditional Chinese auspicious culture is through the use of harmonic sounds, symbols, words and other expression techniques to create an associative form that perfectly combines images with auspicious meanings. China pays attention to the idea that "the map must be intentional, and the intention must be auspicious", and even raises it to the level of systematization.
For example, a three-legged silver plate with a deer pattern of Gilded Zhi in the Tang Dynasty is a first-class cultural relic of the Hebei Museum. This silver plate is large and exquisitely crafted, with a lifelike sika deer decorated with a lifelike sika deer on the center of the plate, and a ganoderma lucidum on the top of the head. "Usually deer and ganoderma lucidum appear together. Both deer and lingzhi are symbols of auspiciousness, which are the signs that accompany the Ming Emperor and the saints, and the pattern of the deer pattern also represents the auspicious prayer. ”
In addition, we can also find gourds, butterflies, mandarin ducks, magpies, goldfish, turtles, cranes as decorative patterns in the exhibition hall... They are also mascots that are popular among the common people in traditional Chinese culture.
According to reports, the exhibition changed the traditional curatorial thinking, and adopted the exhibition method of juxtaposing biological specimens and artistic relics to reveal the connotation of China's auspicious culture to the audience.
"The exhibition is cross-border cooperation between Shanglibo and Zhejiang Natural History Museum and Hebei Museum, and I want to make the exhibition as lively and vivid as possible, so that the audience can appreciate the profound heritage of traditional Chinese culture in edutainment." Chen Hanhong said.
Key exhibits
1. Cheng Zhang is a fan page of Yongkang Tiger Howling Map
Cheng Zhang fan page for Yongkang Tiger Howling Map
Style: Written to recall the Zen lantern record, there are two halls in front of the Zenjue-an. Mr. Feng Yongkang, Xin'an Yao Sheng Cheng Zhang. Plutonium seal: "Cheng Yin" (Bai Wenyin), "Yao Sheng" (Zhu Wenyin)
Cheng Zhang (1869 ~ 1936), the character Dezhang, the number Yaosheng, Anhui Xiuning people, painting flowers, birds and animals are the most exquisite. The traditional skills are profound, the techniques are exquisite, and they are familiar with the principle of perspective, and the Western painting techniques are unique in the maritime painting world. This painting depicts the scene of the tiger roaring in the mountain forest, one comes from the grass in the mountains, and the other lies on the slope and screams in the sky, showing the tiger's health at a glance, the tiger's hair texture is strong, and the proportion coordination is prominent.
2. Gilded deer pattern three-legged silver plate
This silver plate is large in shape, in the shape of a six-petal diamond flower, and each petal has a set of gilded flowers in the interior, with the style of gold and silverware from Central Asia, and the workmanship is exquisite and exquisite, which is very rich in Tang Dynasty charm. There is also a lifelike sika deer in the center of the pan, with a ganoderma lucidum on the top of its head, and its four legs are staggered back and forth.
Gilded deer-patterned three-legged silver plate
Because "deer" is "Lu", it means Feng Lu and wealth; Lingzhi means longevity. Both deer and lingzhi are symbols of auspiciousness, which are the signs that accompany the Ming Emperor and the saints, and the pattern of the deer pattern also represents the auspicious prayer. Therefore, this plate decoration has the auspicious meaning of Fluke longevity.
3. Fulu Shou three-star character standing statue
Shou Xing holds a cane in his hand and his forehead is prominent; Fu Xing embraces the boy with a pleasant eyebrow; Lu Xing is dressed in official clothes and holds Ruyi. Three stars stand side by side, the image is clear, meaning more blessings and many lives.
Three-star figure of Fu Lu Shou
Fuxing originally originated from the ancestors' natural worship of Jupiter's stars. Jupiter's orbital period is about 11.86 years, the ancients will divide the week into 12 points, called 12 times, Jupiter once a year, use the star where Jupiter is located to chronicle, this is the year star chronology, popular in the Eastern Zhou to Han Dynasty. Because of the close connection between the stars and the seasonal agricultural time, it has gained a lofty status and is known as the Lucky Star. After the Tang Dynasty, the image of Fuxing shifted, combined with real people and Taoist beliefs, and gradually formed the image of Fuxing that we are familiar with today.
Lu Xing is the deity of Si Shou Wen Yun Li Lu. The Han Dynasty called the first six stars of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper as Wenchang Palace, also known as the Six Stars of Wenchang, the Stars of Wenqu, the main Wenyun, the sixth of which is Silu, which evolved from the star god to the human god after the Tang Dynasty, and the most influential image of the Lu god was zhang Yazi, the Zitong god attached to the Song Dynasty, called "Wenchang Emperor Jun".
Shou Xing is one of the twelve stars, also derived from the ancestors' star nature worship. Antarctic Old Man Star is the second brightest star in the whole day, the Han Dynasty people called it Shou Xing, believed that the appearance of this star will be stable in the world, so the shrine is sacrificed to pray for blessings, and the later Shou Star also evolved into the name of the immortal, becoming an important member of the Taoist belief system.
4, Zhang Shanliu made a pair of silver shou peaches
Zhang Shanliu made a pair of silver shou peaches
A pair of silver shou peaches made by the famous gold and silver craftsman "Zhang Shanliu" in the Qing Dynasty, using hammering, welding and other processes to form a multi-layer circular carving shape, and the instrument table is blue, green and red enamel. The main body is peach-shaped, and the outer layer is decorated with three-dimensional tangles of flowers and plants. Along the convex end of the shou peach in the middle of the section is divided into upper and lower halves, along the junction there is a week of fine art characters "Shou", between the words decorated with bats, the top surface also has a circular "Shou". A sika deer that mimics running on the stalk of shou peach. The small and exquisite shou peach is full of blessings, lu and shou, and the ingenuity and ingenuity are amazing.
5, Mei Lanfang and other cooperation rich and noble peace map axis
Knowledge: Rich and noble, Yu Bamboo reports peace, Mei Lanfang supplements Mo Mei and asks questions. Xun Huisheng paints peonies. Huang Guiqiu used the double hook method to supplement bamboo. Jiang Miaoxiang paints the bottle holder. Cheng Yanqiu paints red camellia. Shang Xiaoyun painted for more than two years.
Mei Lanfang and other cooperation rich and noble peace map axis
This painting was painted by Peking opera artists Mei Lanfang, Xun Huisheng, Huang Guiqiu, Jiang Miaoxiang, Cheng Yanqiu and Shang Xiaoyun, etc. The painting of plum, bamboo, peony, camellia, pisces and Bogujia is a typical desk clear painting, painting is not their specialty, but the painting is also elegant and chic, and quite golden stone, very rare in the handwriting of many famous people.
6. Cut out the silver jar of plum shoots
Cut-out hi on the plum tip silver jar
The body is flattened and spherical, the lid is round, the button is a thin rod that simulates the shape of natural branches, and the slender leaves stretch out in three directions at the connection with the cover, and the whole shape is like a full and ripe persimmon. It is made by multi-dimensional hollowing process, the body is engraved with patterns, densely covered with flowers, leaves and branches, the flowers are five petals, and the leaves are oval. Two birds stop on the branches of the flowers, corresponding to each other, and the composition is balanced and harmonious. The whole device is cleverly designed, exquisitely made, virtual and real, rich in layers, vividly showing the picture of the happy plum shoots. Combined with the shape of a persimmon, it means "happy event".
7. Yaozhou kiln "Zhao" character tangled peony pattern plate
Yaozhou kiln "Zhao" character tangled branches peony pattern plate
Open, curved abdomen, circle foot, hard and delicate tire, gray and white tire color, blue glaze throughout, glaze thick and lustrous, glaze color blue in the slight glitter, and accompanied by open pieces, bubbles at the glaze. The inner wall is printed with a leaf text for a week, the inner bottom is molded with four tangled peonies, the flowers are blooming and intertwined, the flowers are engraved with the word "Zhao", and the outer wall of the vessel is engraved with chrysanthemum petals. The ornament layout is rigorous, dense, concave and convex, strong three-dimensional sense, is a good piece of Yaozhou kiln in the Song Dynasty.
Yaozhou kiln is one of the most influential celadon kilns in the north, and was famous for its molding and engraving pattern decoration during the Song Dynasty. Peony pattern is one of the typical auspicious patterns of porcelain decoration, the Tang Dynasty people advocate peony, gold and silver ware and so on often with peony pattern as a decorative theme, the Song Dynasty people are influenced by it, regard peony as a rich flower, porcelain on the prevailing peony ornamentation, in the subsequent periods of long prosperity, there is the meaning of great wealth and nobility. This plate inherits the traditional style of Yaozhou kiln, blending stencils and engravings into one, and the technique is skillful. This kind of utensil with a surname note is particularly rare among the Yaozhou kiln products that have been handed down.
8, Yan Yutian Pine Crane pattern crystal inner painting snuff bottle
Yan Yutian Pine Crane Pattern Crystal Inner Painting Snuff Bottle
Yan Yutian was a famous painter of inner painting in the late Qing Dynasty, and he left many works that were appreciated by both elegant and popular customs, with themes involving flowers and birds, figures, landscapes, etc., especially flowers and birds, with strong ancient style and distinct style. This snuff bottle is made of crystal, with the theme of common pine trees and cranes, the pine trees are simple in shape, and the flying cranes are flexible, which together constitute the longevity image of "Pine Crane Longevity". Matsuno is the "length of a hundred trees", evergreen and immortal, a symbol of longevity and purity. The crane is the "Sect of Hundred Feathers", peaceful and elegant, and is a symbol of Ruishou and nobility. Songhe cigarette pot pen ink is clean and beautiful, fresh and elegant, meaning as high as the pine crane, crane life extension.
As a daily utensil for the literati of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the snuff bottle is small and exquisite, and since it was introduced to China in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, it has gradually integrated with traditional crafts, especially famous for its internal paintings.
9. Bricks
Bricks
It is a collective term for the bivalve clam family of shellfish. Its name began in the Han Dynasty, because the uneven grooves on the surface of its shell resembled a rut, and was figuratively called "Chequ", and later wrote "砗磲" because its calcareous shell was as solid as a rock. It has a colorful and fantasy patterned coat film, which presents aquamarine, emerald green, golden yellow, brown red and other colors.
It is the largest bivalve shellfish in existence, with an average shell width of 1.2 meters, a weight of up to 200 kg and a lifespan of up to 100 years. More than 86% of the shell composition is calcium carbonate, its thickness can exceed 10 cm, easy to process, and pure white and clean, since ancient times as a treasure; it is regarded as one of the "Seven Treasures of Buddhism". After a certain number of years of geological pressure, the residual shell of the brick will be "jadeized", and after cutting and polishing, it will become a valuable jewelry.
All kinds of shell handicrafts are illegally traded online and offline, and the population of pots in the South China Sea has been seriously reduced. Today, the big pot is a national level protected animal.
"Fulu Shouxi Beautiful Life - Special Exhibition of Chinese Auspicious Culture"
Exhibition period: December 21 to March 13, 2022
Venue: Shanghai Municipal History Museum