Today there is a very interesting thing, recommended for everyone to see -
Please look at the picture below, at first glance, what do you think it is?
"Cup, what else do you need to say?"
"Glass water cup, my family is more..."
"Well, the glass of beer..."
"My milk cup looks like this..."
Indeed, this cup is very "modern":
The color is a little light amber, there is no grain on the outside, the surface can be seen to be polished, there are some natural cracks on the cup, and some flocculent natural crystals can be seen at the bottom and middle.
However, this humble-looking cup is a practical vessel made of high-quality natural crystals, and it is also from the Warring States period!
The cup of beer is actually a unique treasure
This is the only one in the world!
Sengoku Crystal Cup
It is now in the collection of the Hangzhou Museum
The crystal cup in front of you is 15.4 cm high, 2 cm high, 7.8 cm in diameter and 5.4 cm in diameter. Open mouth, flat lip, obliquely long straight wall, deep abdomen, rounded bottom, circle foot outer skimming.
I saw that under the illumination of the light, the transparent crystal was glowing pale pink. Looking at this cup up close, it is not pure white, but slightly amber.
The height of the cup is a little higher than the cup used at home, and the mouth of the cup is about the same size, that is, the inner wall is much thicker.
There are no lines on the outside, the surface is visible to be polished, and some sponge-like natural crystals can be seen at the bottom and middle.
Close-up of the crystal cup
The Warring States Crystal Cup was excavated in October 1990 from the Warring States No. 1 Tomb in Shitang Village, Banshan Town, Hangzhou, with a history of 2,500 years.
It is the largest of the early crystal products unearthed in China so far, and it is a national treasure-level cultural relic.
In 2002, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced 64 pieces (groups) of precious cultural relics as the first batch of cultural relics that were forbidden to go abroad (border) for exhibition, and this Warring States Crystal Cup was one of them.
Xiaobian has gone to the museum to see this cup many times, and each time he has marveled at the superb creativity and skills of the ancients.
Every unique treasure
There is a story that is not known
The story of the crystal cup also begins with the theft of a set of ceramic instruments.
One day in 1990, in the Shitang Village Brick and Tile Factory in Mid-Levels Town, several workers found some ceramic chimes when taking soil, the workers did not make a sound, secretly hid things, waited until the next day to get the antique dealer to sell, was seen by the nearby villagers and reported to the police, the police quickly attacked, found the person who sold the cultural relics, and then got the news from them, most of the cultural relics sold were chased back, including a set of original porcelain pendants currently on display in the museum.
The percussion instrument was an ancient percussion instrument used in conjunction with the bell chime, and was generally only used by the nobles during feasts and sacrifices.
Why did The Town of Mid-Levels unearth precious primitive porcelain palladium?
In order to find out the situation, the cultural relics department decided to carry out rescue excavations of the place where the original porcelain pendant was found (that is, the Warring States Tomb No. 1 in the present-day Shitang Village of Mid-Levels).
Geomorphological conditions around the Warring States No. 1 Tomb in Hangzhou Mid-Levels in 1990
The Warring States No. 1 Tomb in Shitang Village, Banshan Mountain, is located in a grassy creek dock at the western foot of The Yellow Crane Mountain. According to archaeologists, judging from the scale of the tomb and the variety of funerary utensils, the identity of the tomb owner is definitely not ordinary people, and it is likely that he is an administrator or military leader living in Hangzhou.
Historically, ancient Hangzhou was a place where Wu Yue fought for hegemony, and after the destruction of Wu, the Yue State ruled here for a long time, and in the Warring States period, it encountered a strong rival Chu State.
In 323 BC, King Huai of Chu led his army to the east to defeat the Yue soldiers, killing the Yue King Wujian, and the area around ancient Hangzhou was incorporated into the territory of the Chu State from then on.
According to archaeologists, when Chu Yue fought for hegemony, Shitang Village in Mid-Levels Town was the place where the Tun soldiers fought, and after Chu destroyed Yue, a city pool was established here, and the city pool was surrounded by water on all sides, and now there are three small ditches, and there are traces of the city pool.
"Although at that time, Hangzhou was mostly within the scope of the Yue Kingdom during the Warring States period, but in the excavated artifacts, in addition to the Yue culture, there were many elements of the Chu State, such as primitive porcelain chimes, agate rings rarely seen in the Jiangnan region, and glass ornaments full of exotic atmosphere. Maybe it was brought from the Chu kingdom. ”
It was this excavation that led to the later excavation of the Crystal Cup.
Crystal cup excavation site
It is said that when a piece of soil was first lifted, it was suddenly shook by a blinding reflected light, shiny, like ordinary people, during archaeological excavations, the first thing that saw it was very surprised: "Isn't this the cup we drink beer?" ”
Ancient craftsmen were really able to make it
Is the crystal product so highly crafted?
In order to find out the material and age of the cup, this "treasure" was transported to Beijing for identification. Considering the possible damage during transportation, the cup was tightly wrapped and brought to Beijing along with the soil inside.
"Baby, national treasure," su Bingqi, a giant in Chinese archaeology, sighed when he saw this cup.
Researchers measured the soil in the cup and the charcoal specimen taken in the tomb, and obtained that this cup is a crystal cup from the Warring States period 2500 years ago, made of natural crystal.
In fact, the fusion of The East and the West is the same as the fun and taste of the ancestors playing with jade, and this form is not out of thin air and suddenly appears, but has a historical heritage.
China has a very long history of using crystals, and similar crystal cups actually have some excavation reports in the Lianghe culture.
Neolithic sites and tombs have been accompanied by several excavations of crystal artifacts.
After the Shang Zhou Dynasty, the production of crystal products was more elaborate and vivid, and crystal zodiac carvings were excavated during the Spring and Autumn Period.
These artifacts are machined using circular carving, which is technically more difficult than the process of drilling holes and arc polishing.
Around the Time of the Tang Dynasty, on the grassland Silk Road, there were also some glass cups with similar shapes, but before the discovery of this crystal cup, there had never been a large crystal with such a high purity in China.
When the Hangzhou Museum opened in 2002, the museum tried to let the glass factory make artificial crystal replicas, but after hard work, several still refused to do it.
What other crystal cups have been unearthed?
Tang Dynasty crystal cup
Collection of Datang West City Museum
Crystal eight-curved long cup
Xi'an Hejia Village was excavated
It is now in the Shaanxi History Museum
Height 2.9, caliber length 9.5, width 5.5, wall thickness 0.1, circle foot diameter length 4.8, width 2.7, height 0.27, thickness 0.3 cm. Made of colorless transparent crystal.
The shape of the vessel is the same as that of the white jade honeysuckle pattern eight-curved cup excavated from Hejia Village, with eight horizontally layered curved petals and oval dwarf circle feet. Its production method is also similar to that of the white jade honeysuckle pattern eight-curved long cup, but the outer wall is light-free.
Although the countries of the Western Regions have repeatedly presented crystal cups to the Tang Dynasty, and the shape of this crystal cup is the same as the Sassanid multi-curved silver cup, in view of the fact that no similar artifacts have been found in Central Asia, the production techniques such as the forming and piercing of this vessel are exactly the same as the white jade honeysuckle pattern eight-curved long cup, so it is speculated that it is likely to be an imitation made by Chinese craftsmen in the second half of the 7th century.