The most honorable woman in ancient times was the queen, followed by the princess. Princesses were the daughters of ancient emperors and enjoyed great power, but they were also often used as political "tools" for peace, and were "victims" of the ancient emperors' friendly relations with neighboring countries. In the ancient times when men were superior to women, the life of the princess was generally not expected by women, so in many court dramas, the princess was often called "golden branches and jade leaves", what does this word mean? Golden branches and jade leaves, originally described the beauty of plant branches and leaves, in a document of the Tang Dynasty, this word appeared, and later golden branches and jade leaves were also used to describe the descendants of the royal family, meaning very noble. Later, golden branches and jade leaves were also used for people of delicate birth, noble ladies and so on.
Construction accidentally found an ancient tomb of the Ming Dynasty, the owner of the tomb named Zhang Anwan
In the 1960s, archaeologists received a call for help, and at the foot of Wufeng Mountain in Jiangsu Province, a construction team dug up the ancient tomb during construction. They did not know how to deal with it, and could only seek the help of experts from the Jiangsu Cultural Relics Bureau. Archaeologists came here for field investigation and found that there was more than one tomb, which was a very large tomb. With deep excavation and research, archaeologists have discovered a joint burial tomb. There are a total of five coffins in this joint tomb, and there is no trace of them being opened, which means that the tomb here has not been invaded by tomb robbers. This is very good news, the tomb has not been invaded by tomb thieves, which proves that the cultural relics inside are still alive.
Archaeologists learned through the epitaph that the owner of the tomb was named Zhang Anwan, a jinshi during the Ming Dynasty, and that Zhang Anwan was buried with his wife and concubine. In ancient times, it was very normal for men to have three wives and four concubines, ancient people were not as many as modern people, and not every child was born to grow up safely, so the ancients attached great importance to children and regarded fertility as very important. Ancient emperors had three thousand harems, but there were only a few people in history who could have dozens of children like Qianlong, so in ancient times a man may marry several wives.
The concubine's "golden cicada jade leaf" became the most exquisite ornament of the Ming Dynasty
Zhang Anwan's tomb does not have too many belongings, not luxurious, not shabby, his wives have a lot of exquisite ornaments, but only one tomb, unearthed a "cicada" that amazes all experts. This is the coffin of Zhang Anwan's concubine, and after opening her coffin, archaeologists found that on her head, there was a very small cicada, this cicada was made of gold, and the cicada was set off by branches and leaves made of hetian mutton fat white jade. Archaeologists see such precious cultural relics, naturally can't help but feel excited in their hearts, and even archaeologists laugh out loud. The gold content of this cicada reached 95%, not a gilded ornament, from this ornament, it can be seen that Zhang Anwan liked his concubine very much, because in the eyes of the ancients, the cicada was a symbol of high purity and beauty, and so was jade.
Among the other tombs of wives and concubines, none of the ornaments could match this golden cicada jade leaf. This cicada is very small, the overall length is about 5 centimeters, archaeologists are very happy, this is the most exquisite Ming Dynasty ornament they have found so far. Originally, archaeologists thought that the handmade jewelry of the Ming Dynasty was not as developed as other dynasties, because the cultural relics excavated from many Ming Dynasty tombs were not as good as those of other dynasties. In the 1950s, archaeologists excavated the Dingling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty, and in the tomb of this emperor, many exquisite jade and gold objects were unearthed.
In the tomb of Emperor Mingshenzong, most of the jade is made of ordinary jade, and there is only one cup made of Hetian white jade, so Hetian white jade was very rare and precious during the Ming Dynasty. This golden cicada must also be a very expensive ornament in the Ming Dynasty, although it is very small, but it has a very beautiful meaning, Zhang Anwan's concubine can receive such a gift, representing Zhang Anwan's heart has a very good wish for this concubine, perhaps hoping that she can be a big lady with golden branches and jade leaves in the next life, and not be a concubine of other people's families anymore.