Chinese civilization can be said to have existed since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, and Yao Shunyu has been passed down from generation to generation. Among them, through the Xia Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn Warring States and other dynasties, after the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, the imperial dynasty has since ended and entered modern society, these few words record the historical civilization of these dynasties that have been separated by five thousand years. In the era when there were no modern scientific and technological means, skilled craftsmen emerged in an endless stream, and there were countless items of all kinds.
These cultural heritages have been preserved invaluable after years of vicissitudes. Among them, the six treasures preserved in China are not yet able to be solved by experts at present, how the skilled craftsmen of that time made them without the help of science and technology. Today, let's take a look at these six artifacts.
First, the first cultural relic is the ivory mat
In China, the goods that are commercially processed and sold in ivory are strictly controlled, and in ancient times, ivory was owned by noble officials and eunuchs. Because of the texture of ivory, the craftsmen at that time carved more ivory into ornaments. However, the emergence of ivory mats excavated in modern China broke the conventional ivory products.
What can be seen on the ivory mat is that the ivory has become a very thin silk thread, which is woven in a special way and made into a mat. When this artifact was discovered, the major experts were studying how ancient craftsmen turned ivory into ivory filament, and then used these ivory filaments to weave mats.
In the historical records, there are records of ivory mats during the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and in the Qing Dynasty, which is close to the modern era, there are craftsmen who make ivory mats, and the ivory mats of the Qing Dynasty are woven by processing ivory into 2 mm wide and 0.5 mm thick ivory wire. Now the craft has not been passed down.
Second, the second cultural relic is the Obsidian Tianmu Tea Cup
Southern Song Dynasty poets also had many leisurely and unique activities when making friends, one of which was tea fighting, and the Changing Tianmu Tea Bowl was used when fighting tea. The Obsidian Tenmu Tea Bowl was later spread to Japan for various reasons, and the Japanese were so surprised by the mysteriousness of the obsidian pattern that they praised the Obscured Tenmoku Tea Bowl as the universe in the bowl.
When firing in the kiln, the kiln changes, resulting in a special change in the pattern of the Yao changing Tianmu tea bowl, just like the brilliant starry sky that can be seen on the seashore late at night, and the bowl will also emit light in the night, and the pattern on the body will change with the light.
In addition to the three obsidian Tianmu bowls that have been spread to Japan at that time, only the obsidian Tianmu bowls are missing in China. In the manufacture of the Yao Changing Tianmu Tea Cup, many of the factors due to the kiln change are made by accident, and each one is unique.
The luster on the porcelain is made by firing at a strict temperature, and special techniques are used to make iron crystals appear on the surface of the porcelain, which is why the tea bowl shows light.
These experience techniques can only be learned by very mature kiln makers, and the experience of the ancients without technology such as thermometers in the past was passed on by word of mouth. This also leads to the fact that people can imitate the style now, but the luster emitted by iron crystals is a puzzle that people have not solved now.
Third, the third cultural relic is the Zenghou Yizun Plate
Marquis Yizun of Zeng appeared in the Warring States period. In 1978, the tomb of Marquis Yi zeng of Dougudun in Hubei Province was discovered and excavated by archaeologists. The Zenghou Yizun Plate, which is regarded as a representative work of Chinese historical bronzes, is now in the collection of the Hubei Provincial Museum.
The reason why this disc is amazing is because of its ingenious hollow decoration. These hollowed-out decorations are independent of each other on the surface, unrelated to each other, and are supported by copper stems on the inside. The copper stems are connected in different directions, staggered, small and exquisite, and people are amazed.
The dragon snake in this Zenghou Yizun plate looks exquisite under the hollow decoration, and the casting technology at that time has not been fully understood, because there is no trace of forging and casting on the details of the Zenghou Yizun plate. Experts speculate that the casting technique of the lost-wax method is used, but this craft has been lost, and it is difficult to achieve the exact same effect with modern technology.
Fourth, the fourth cultural relic is the plain yarn Zen robe
The Susha Zen Robe was discovered in 1972 at the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, and this cultural relic is a representative work of the peak of textile technology in the Western Han Dynasty. The susha Zen robe only weighed 49g, this dress was the outer coat of the society at that time, in addition to the thick collar, sleeves, and placket, he only weighed more than 20 grams, which was really as thin as a cicada wing.
In order to understand how this dress was made by the ancients, the Hunan Museum commissioned experts to study the imitation of Yunjin's plain gauze Zen clothes, but the finished product weighed more than 80g. Some experts have asked that problems may appear on silk, and there is a difference between the current silkworm baby and the previous silkworm baby.
So the experts began to study sericulture, which lasted thirteen years to study silkworm babies. Finally completed a 49.5-gram imitation gauze Zen robe, but the quality is still not as thin as the cultural relics. Under the multi-faceted research of modern science and technology, there is still no way to completely copy the plain yarn Zen clothes.
Fifth, the fifth cultural relic is the eggshell black pottery cup
The eggshell black pottery cup excavated in the Donghai Yulongshan Cultural Site in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, is very representative. Because of the special material of Shandong clay, the color of this cup is unique, and the pattern of the eggshell black pottery outer cup shows the living habits and aesthetic characteristics of the society at that time.
The eggshell black pottery cup is divided into three parts, the most distinctive of which is that there is a bulging part in the middle of the thin handle, which is like a hollowed-out cage, with a pottery bead in the middle. When the cup is shaken in the hand, the pottery beads collide with the outer wall of the porcelain to make a sound. When the cup is placed on the table, the pottery beads can still stabilize the center of gravity underneath, and I have to sigh that the ancients designed it very cleverly.
Pottery first appeared in the Shang Dynasty, and after thousands of years of development and change, countless pottery has appeared. However, there has never been a finished product similar to an eggshell black pottery cup, which shows that the craftsmen at that time were already very skilled in the production of pottery. The pottery beads present in the eggshell black pottery cup cannot be restored with modern technology.
Sixth, the sixth cultural relic is the mirror of the light that sees the sun
The mirror of seeing the sun was originally a prop used by the Han Dynasty Music House, and the most special thing about this mirror is that when there is light, the pattern on the back of the copper mirror will be refracted and photocopied into the light spot. Archaeologists have found that the place where the bronze mirror has inscriptions and patterns is very thick, and the place where there is no such thing as it is very thin. This causes the curvature to be different in different thicknesses, and the characteristics of lighting will appear. This is now discovered by means of science and technology, but it is not known what method the ancients used to judge it.
7. Summary
When the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China and burned the Yuanmingyuan, it began to loot after seeing the exquisite chinese cultural relics, resulting in the loss of countless cultural relics in China at that time. The value of cultural relics is not only in itself, but also in allowing people to study the social situation at that time. Now experts are excavating and exploring these cultural relics, and the cultural relics found are only Liao Ruoxing in the long river of history!
What are your thoughts on this?