Introduction: In 1967, when the staff of the Shaanxi Cultural Relics Bureau went to the countryside to investigate, they found a strangely shaped oil lamp in an ancestral hall in Hejia Village, Qishan County, Baoji City, and the oil lamp turned out to be a copper cow, and the wick of the oil lamp protruded from the cow's mouth, and the flame flashed from the cow's mouth. The cultural security personnel walked into the copper bull to take a closer look, but it was unbelievable that the copper cow was actually a cow from the Western Zhou Dynasty. Later, the clerk used 13 yuan to collect this national treasure-level cultural relic, which is currently collected in the Shaanxi History Museum.
Why did the Niu Zun of the Shang Dynasty become the oil lamp of the ancestral hall?
Cultivate the land to dig up copper cattle
In 1967, He Chengshan, a villager in Hejia Village, Hejia Brigade, Jingdang Township, Qishan County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, went to work in the terraces. While plowing the ground, He Chengshan's pickaxe head was planed to a hard object, and when he dug up the soil above, he found that there seemed to be a bronze vessel buried in the ground. So He Chengshan began to dig carefully, and finally he dug out a copper cow from the terrace. This copper cow is about half a meter square, and its posture is strong and lifelike.
For he Chengshan, a farmer, the cow is his favorite animal, and the cow can not only help people plow the field but also understand human nature. Looking at the copper cow he had dug out of the terraces, He Chengshan was full of joy. After cleaning up the dirt from the copper cow, he carried the copper cow to the village.
After He Chengshan carried the copper cow back to the village, the villagers all ran to see the liveliness, and everyone pointed around the copper cow and talked about it. Although the villagers do not know the origin of this copper cow, everyone agrees that the copper bull is an old antique, which means auspicious and is a generous gift from heaven to Hejia Village.
At that time, the peasants were very simple, and He Chengshan heard everyone say that the copper cow was a generous gift from heaven to Hejia Village, and he also agreed. Later, with the consent of the village chief, the copper cow was invited into the ancestral hall of the village.
After the copper bull was invited into the ancestral hall, some villagers found that there was a lid on the back of the copper cow, and when the lid was opened, the inside of the cow's belly was a cavity, and there was an exit at the cow's mouth connected to the cow's belly. What is this device? After carefully studying the copper cow, a wise villager poured lamp oil from under the lid on the back of the copper cow into the abdominal cavity, and then drew the wick out of the cow's mouth, so that the copper cow became an oil lamp.
13 yuan to collect bronze bulls
Baoji, Shaanxi is a famous historical and cultural city and the birthplace of the Zhou and Qin Dynasties. Baoji is located in the western part of the Guanzhong Plain, bordered by Xianyang in the east and Tianshui and Pingliang in Gansu in the northwest, and has been a throat since ancient times. Due to its rich historical heritage, Baoji is also the place with the most bronzes unearthed in China, and is known as the "land of bronzes". As a major cultural relics province, the Shaanxi Cultural Relics Bureau pays special attention to the cultural relics dynamics of Baoji.
In 1967, the cultural security staff of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau went to Baoji to do cultural relics research. On this day, the security guard happened to come to Hejia Village, and after entering the village, he asked the villagers if anyone in the village had dug up something like antiques.
Listening to the scribe's inquiry, the villagers immediately remembered the copper cow they had dug up not long ago. So the villagers told the civil security guard: "Not long ago, when He Chengshan was working in the fields, he dug up a copper cow, and the copper cow was placed in the ancestral hall of the village. ”
When the security guard heard about it, he immediately went to the ancestral hall of Hejia Village. As soon as he entered the ancestral hall, he saw a copper bull in the middle of the ancestral hall, and the copper cow had a candle lit in its mouth.
"What is this?" Is it an oil lamp in the shape of a copper bull? The scribe's heart wondered.
Due to the dim light in the ancestral hall, the security guard did not see the situation of the copper bull clearly. He walked into the copper bull, carefully examined the copper cow, and found that the copper cow had a round body, a large head, and a lid on its back, and a mighty tiger stood on the cover, and he reacted at once, this copper cow is not an oil lamp, but a "cow dignity".
After discovering the Bronze Niuzun, the conservators immediately found the village chief of Hejia Village. He told the village chief: "The bronze cow used to make an oil lamp in the ancestral hall is actually a bronze cow statue, which is a very precious cultural relic, and if it is placed in the ancestral hall as an oil lamp, it will not only cause damage, but also may be lost." ”
Subsequently, the clerk and the village chief negotiated to take the bronze cow away, and the village chief heard that the bronze cow was a precious cultural relic, and agreed on the spot to let the clerk take the bronze cow away. However, when the villagers heard that the conservators wanted to take the "sacred cow" away, several villagers stopped doing so, believing that since the "sacred cow" had already entered the ancestral hall, it was a god who blessed them with good wind and rain, and could not be taken away casually.
Later, after preaching the knowledge and policies of cultural relics and collecting money for the village collective's 13 yuan cultural relics, the cultural security staff finally took the bronze niuzun away.
Western Zhou Bronze Bull Zun
So, what kind of cultural relics is this bronze bull statue?
Let's take a look at this bronze ox figure: this ox figure is 38 cm long, 52.5 cm waist, 10.7 cm deep, 24 cm high, weighs 7100 grams, and is made of bronze. Cast from a buffalo, the cow looks strong, with a slightly raised head and a pair of diamond-shaped horns that bend backwards on the top of its head, with a slightly open beak, a concave forehead, prominent eyes, and abduction of the ears.
The back of the cow is slightly concave, and there is a rectangular lid on the part, and there is a cover button on the top of the lid, the shape of the lid button is a mighty tiger, the belly of the cow is fat and hollow, the cow leg is thick, the cow's hoof is divided, the cow's hip is curved and drummed, and the ox's tail is naturally drooping.
According to the identification of experts, this bronze cow is a ceremonial vessel of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which is a wine statue, and experts name it "Western Zhou Niu Zun".
Zun in ancient China is a kind of wine container collective name, this kind of container only princes and nobles are eligible to enjoy, so people call it "Zun". Many honorific vessels have been unearthed in the history of our country, most of which are cast on animals, such as sheep, chicken, rhinoceros and so on.
Although it is very common in the history of cultural relics in China, but the cow zun is very rare, so far China has unearthed a total of two pieces of the same type of niu zun, Hejia Village unearthed one of them, the other niu zun lost to Japan.
This "Niu Zun" of the Western Zhou Dynasty integrates casting, design and carving art in one, which is both a beautiful work of art and a practical product in life, carrying a large amount of historical and cultural information, providing valuable physical information for experts to study the culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the development history of bronze ware, and it is a rare bronze masterpiece.
Later, this niuzun was identified as a national first-class cultural relic and became a "national treasure" level cultural relic. At present, it is in the collection of the Shaanxi History Museum and is one of the "treasures of the town hall" of the museum.