The Shaanxi History Museum has become a popular punching place in many museums in China because of its rich collection of cultural relics and the profound heritage of the ancient capital of Xi'an, coupled with the general attention of traditional Chinese culture in recent years. Whenever there are holidays and winter and summer vacations, it can be regarded as a ticket that is difficult to find. As a heritage lover, nature cannot miss it.
This time when I came to the Shaanxi History Museum, an important task was to photograph the gold relics in the collection. One of the most important is the most beautiful golden bowl in Datang- the Mandarin Duck Lotus Petal Pattern Golden Bowl. There are two golden bowls, and the inner walls of the two bowls have "nine two halves" and "nine two threes", which should be the weight of the bowl. The ink book weight shows a slight difference in weight between the two bowls, but the balance measured the same weight. One is in the special exhibition hall of "Datang Relics" and the other is in the permanent exhibition hall. As far as the Tang Dynasty golden bowls that have been unearthed are concerned, these two Tang Mandarin Duck Lotus Petal Pattern Golden Bowls are the most magnificent golden bowls ever seen.
First, let's talk about their origins. On October 5, 1970, two giant urns with a height of 65 centimeters and a diameter of 60 centimeters and a large silver jar with a height of 30 centimeters and a diameter of 25 centimeters were found at an infrastructure construction site in Hejia Village, a southern suburb of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. A total of more than 1,000 cultural relics were unearthed, 271 gold and silver utensils, and the total weight of gold ware reached 298 taels (Tang Da Liang, 45 grams today), about 13.4 kg. These gold and silverware are exquisitely crafted, exquisitely shaped, and of extremely high artistic value, all of which are royal supplies of the Tang Dynasty, national treasure-level cultural relics, and some of the treasures are unique and unique in the world. There are 3 national treasure-level cultural relics in China and dozens of national first-class cultural relics in China. These two golden bowls are among the excavated artifacts.
Take a closer look at this golden bowl that represents the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty, and the whole golden bowl is made of hammer and hammering to create two layers of lotus petals that bulge outward, and each layer is ten pieces. This hammering is different from the process of using gold malleability in mainland China to form gold hammers, which originated in Greece and Rome and later spread to West Asia and Central Asia, and with the prosperity of the Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty, a large number of Western gold and silverware and gold and silver craftsmen entered Middle-earth. This kind of convex petal decoration is extremely common in Sogdian style silverware, indicating that the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty have mastered this process to make a lifelike lotus petal form, full of regularity and exquisite skill.
Next, look at the pattern above. The upper layer is motifs of animals, with Mandarin ducks, wild ducks, parrots, foxes, etc., while the lower layer is a single honeysuckle ornamental pattern. The blank space on the lotus petal is decorated with birds and cloud patterns, which are popular and favorite patterns in the Tang Dynasty.
It is worth noting the shading of the bowl, which is called the fish roe pattern, which is a representative ornament on the gold and silverware of the Tang Dynasty. It is engraved with a hammer one by one, arranged in a regular and orderly manner, which can not only play a decorative role, make the picture rich and full, but also avoid the smooth surface of the gold and scratches when used, affecting the beauty of the utensils, which is an aesthetic and practical design.
The golden bowl can be described as full of brilliance, even the bottom of the bowl does not forget to decorate the bird pattern, in the Exhibition of the Shaanxi History Museum, the bowl is supported by a bracket in the special exhibition hall, and the pattern at the bottom can be seen. In addition, you can pay attention to the position of the bowl's circle foot, where a small gold bead is welded, and the doorway inside the small gold bead is left behind along with other representative cultural relics.
At the Shaanxi History Museum, you must take a good look at these two golden bowls and experience the precious cultural relics that integrate the production of gold artifacts from the East and the West and the most beautiful craftsmanship. Recently, Xi'an is in the midst of the epidemic, the national treasure has a spirit, Chang'an is unharmed, and it is also expected that the epidemic will end as soon as possible, so that more people have the opportunity to see their "fangrong".
Photo of this issue: Zhang Wenbin
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