Unity resumes, dan fudan xi.
"Happy New Year's Day" is today's key word, a high-frequency word. I was a little surprised that the lunar calendar has not yet ended, and the development of society has made our various cognitions and memories of the tradition more and more blurred...
The topic of this article is related to the ox, and in order to "defend" the year of the ugly ox, I have deliberately thrown this article out today. In this way, I wish you all a "Happy New Year"!
Talking about chatting with a friend a few years ago, talking about the Yaozhou kiln and Ding kiln in the north of the Song and Jin Dynasties, there is a kind of "Wu Niu Breathing Moon" pattern is quite common, he thinks that this ornamental theme is quite interesting, specially checked it, found that Jiangxi Jizhou kiln, Jingdezhen Hutian kiln also have, so want to ask me, the same period of Longquan kiln has this kind of ornamentation.
Longquan celadon has been collected for many years, but there is no such ornament in the memory at that time. At the same time, I think that compared with the several kilns mentioned, the Longquan kiln pays more attention to the glaze color, especially the Southern Song Dynasty Longquan celadon porcelain, which has more plain faces facing the sky and less pattern modification. And as far as the types of ornamentation of Longquan celadon are concerned, there are mostly plant patterns, fewer animal patterns, mostly stylized and standardized decorative patterns, and fewer patterns with strong personalized expression. The pattern of Longquan celadon (except for official instruments), especially before the Ming Dynasty, is generally relatively simple and concise, without too complex composition.
Later, it was found that the Longquan kiln actually had similar themes, but the examples seen so far were from the Ming Dynasty.
The "Wu Niu Wheezing Moon" pattern on porcelain was first proposed by the experts of the Forbidden City (see Yang Jingrong's "Ceramic Decorative Pattern - Wu Niu Wheezing Moon" Examination" and "The Palace Museum Journal" 1984.02; Wang Guangyao's "Jin Dynasty "Wu Niu Wheezing Moon" Pattern Interpretation", "Cultural Relics World" 1999.04), and excavated its cultural connotation (Wu Niu refers to buffalo in the Jianghuai area, Wudi is hot for a long time, buffalo is afraid of heat, seeing the moon mistakenly thinks it is the sun, so panting, is for "Wu Niu Wheezing Moon", Yang Wen believes that this pattern is the emotional expression and obscure expression of craftsmen in the northern Central Plains who are dissatisfied with the harsh rule of the Jin Dynasty), and its more common name is "Rhino Wangyue", and some scholars call it "Kunniu Wangyue" (see Guo Xuelei's "Rhino Looking at the Moon" Mirror Examination" and "Decoration", 2016.08). This aspect of the research article is quite rich, interested readers can search for a look, this will not be repeated.
The figure cannot be omitted. Individuals do not like preconceived notions, and the intuitive feeling of looking at the picture is often the starting point of thinking.
Yaozhou kiln green glaze engraved flower "Wu Niu Gasping Moon" pattern bowl
Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing
Jin Yaozhou kiln blue glaze bowl
Sotheby's London 2010-11-10
LOT number: 180 Realized price: 8,125GBP
Song Ding kiln print Wu Niu breathing moon dish
Caliber 13.6 cm
Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
Jin ~ Yuan Ding kiln print peony rhinoceros looking at the moon plate
Caliber 25.6 cm
In addition, the Palace Museum in Beijing has a white glazed printed Wu Niu Wheezing Moon picture plate with a diameter of 30.5 cm, and the mangkou is also inlaid with copper buckles. Compared with the Yaozhou kiln style freehand, flexible and lively carving, the printing pattern of the kiln is exquisite, elegant and solemn, but the white glaze is one color, and it is difficult to clearly display the pattern in the picture.
In 1991, the Southern Song Dynasty Jingdezhen kiln green and white glaze print "Wu Niu Gasping Moon" pattern plate excavated from the cellar of Jinyu Village in Suining City, Sichuan Province, the mouth part is also treated with copper buckles, and the exquisite ornamentation is not inferior to the fixed instrument.
Caliber 19 cm
Collection of Sichuan Song Porcelain Museum
Examples of similar themes in the Longquan kiln are mainly the Ming Dynasty Diamond Fancy Folding Plate as shown below:
Christie's Hong Kong 2018-10-04
LOT number: 0033
In both cases, there are sixteen diamond mouths, and the ornamentation is a molded yang pattern, which is very clear.
I have seen such a plate before, but I have never noticed it, and I have not associated it with themes such as "Wu Niu Gasping Moon". Because the animal image in the picture alone is neither like a cow nor a rhinoceros, with a single horn, but the horns grow on the top of the head instead of on the nose like a rhinoceros, the neck is slender, the limbs are also slender, and the whole body is healthy, and there are differences between the cow and the rhinoceros. Moreover, this beast is covered with flame patterns, as if it has divine brilliance, its upper clouds and moon, surrounded by tangled branches and flat chrysanthemums, and the folded edge is a week of ruyi-shaped flowers, how to see, will not be associated with the meaning of "When Wu Niu breathes in the moon, the tugboat is bitter" and the like. The above Yaozhou kiln, Ding kiln, Jingdezhen kiln related example patterns, my intuitive feeling, is also a kind of beauty, also can not see the "Wu Niu Wheyue" "pain moan".
It is worth noting that the official cast bronze mirrors of the Jin Dynasty also have such ornamental themes. Some scholars believe that the "cow" in this kind of ornament should be the zhenshui god beast "Jingmu" in the Seven Houses of Suzaku, the copper mirror is used to calm water, it should be called "Jingsu Town Water Mirror", in addition to the "cow", there is water, there is a star, there is a moon, it is "by depicting a certain connection between life, nature and celestial phenomena, to express a certain expectation for national governance, social development and people's lives" (see Zhu Wei's "Relationship between the "Star Town Water Mirror" and the "Rhino Moon Mirror" and "Wu Niu Breathing Moon Mirror" in the Jin Dynasty", "Cultural Relics Identification and Appreciation" 2015.07）。
Jin Dynasty "Cheng'an Two Years" Wu Niu Gasp moon story bronze mirror
Collection of the National Museum of China
Southern Song Dynasty Wu Niu gasp moon pattern copper mirror
Collection of Yizheng City Museum
This view is quite convincing. I found a copper map on the banks of the Panlong River in Yunnan On the Internet, and the water theory of Jingsu Town continued until the Qing Dynasty, and the image of the copper calf was more consistent with the "cow" shape in the copper mirror.
The bull moon ornamentation on porcelain is likely to be born from the bronze mirror. In particular, the above-mentioned fixed instrument pattern has some similarities with the composition of the bronze mirror. In addition to the ox and the moon, there are also water waves and stars.
The pattern of the Longquan kiln, like the Yaozhou kiln, only has the cow and the moon, which is a simplification stripped from the mother of the ornament, and its connotation has undoubtedly changed, and it is probably inappropriate to call it "Jingsu Wangyue". In particular, folk kiln ware, generally based on the popular and easy-to-understand ornament expression, even if there is an unfathomable prototype content, it will often be "transformed".
Cows are common, and the image of the cow to be carved on the porcelain is not too different. Personally, I think that the "cow" on the longquan kiln bull moon pattern plate should still refer to the rhinoceros more appropriately. The reason why it is much different from the real rhino image is because the rhinoceros is a treasure (fucking Wu GeXi is covered with rhinoceros armor; rhino horn into medicine), and the slaughter is too much, which is not common in the Song Dynasty. The average person has not seen a rhinoceros, do not know what a rhino looks like, for the rhino is like the meaning of the word "rhinoceros looking at the moon" (rhinoceros has poor vision, think that the moon is imitating the shape of its horns), which is tantamount to a blind person touching an elephant, watching a phoenix, and imagining the majority of components.
Rhino in the illustration of "Drinking and Eating" in the Yuan Dynasty
兕 in the illustration of the Ming Dynasty "Three Talents Picture Society" (rhinoceros and 兕 are similar)
"Qing Dynasty Painted Journey to the West" Jingmu Yan bites the rhinoceros essence
The rhinoceros in the illustration of Journey to the West is the most exaggerated, like a deer and a goat, not even a cow.
In the novel, the three rhinoceros spirits of Xuanying Cave in Qinglong Mountain are called the Great King of Cold Removal, the Great King of Summer, and the Great King of Dust Removal. Folklore suggests that rhino horn has the supernatural functions of dispelling heat, repelling cold and dust, and this name is taken from this. Not only that, but legend has it that rhino horn also has the ability to "clear water".
But the dust rhinoceros, the sea beast also, its horns to dispel the dust, put on the seat, the dust does not enter.
--Southern Dynasty Liang Ren Fang, "Narrative of Differences"
There are also chicken rhinoceros, dust rhinoceros, water rhinoceros, and bright rhinoceros, these numbers of rhinoceros, but they cannot be seen when they hear it.
——Tang Liu Ke," "Records of The Mountains"
Rhinoceros, outside the south of the cattle weighing more than a thousand pounds, a corner at the end of the nose, can be a treasure, there are dust removal, there are water removal.
——Tang Xuanzong's commentary on the Tao Te Ching
(Tang) Wen zongyan was a scholar in the inner temple, and Li Xun taught "Yi". When the summer is in full swing, the upper order takes the summer rhinoceros to give it.
——Tang Baijuyi, "Six Theses of Baikong"
Crossed toes into the horns of the rhinoceros, yellow as gold. The winter moon is placed in the temple, and the heating is like smoke. The messenger asked, "This cold rhinoceros is also."
——Five Dynasties Wang Renyu, "The Testament of Kaiyuan Tianbao"
The rhinoceros that the ancients believed liked to look at the stars and look at the moon, and the rhino horn could absorb the essence of the stars, and was a beast full of divine spirituality (the heart has a spirit rhinoceros). The rhinoceros looking at the moon into the ornament conveys a beautiful meaning.
Therefore, I personally believe that the above-mentioned Ming Dynasty Longquan kiln diamond flower plate ornament is interpreted as "rhinoceros looking at the moon" pattern is very good, and there is no need to attach it to the meaning of "Wu Niu Breathing Moon".