The tiger is one of the twelve zodiac signs, the third in line, called the Yin tiger. As a carnivore, the huge body of the tiger is always daunting, so the ancients formed a contradictory psychology towards the tiger. On the one hand, people have great respect for Li Cunxiao, Zilu, Wu Song, Li Guang, and other people who can subdue tigers, called "tiger fighting heroes"; on the other hand, there is no shortage of praise for tigers in idioms, such as tiger heads and tiger brains, dragons fighting tigers, Crouching tigers, hidden dragons, living dragons, tigers and tigers. In daily life, the image of the tiger also appears in many objects and works of art. In the collection of the Forbidden City, there are many elements of "tiger", such as ancient tiger charms, jade tiger ornaments, tiger head hats... In modern times, there are Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong and other people's "Tiger Map", which can be described as a wide variety.
"Tiger Diagram" Xu Beihong Collection of the Palace Museum
The "Tiger Rune" embodies the wind of the king
In the TV series "Emperor Wu of Han", there have been many "tiger charms", such as Emperor Jing of Han gave the tiger charm to Zhou Yafu and asked him to lead the whole country to quell the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms; Empress Dou handed over the tiger charm to Emperor Wu of Han, and finally took power of Emperor Wu of Han was happy like a child; Wei Qing used the tiger charm to mobilize the tiger army, and Emperor Wu of Han was very dissatisfied with this move, so he took back the tiger charm...
The Tiger Rune is a military symbol used by the ancient emperor to dispatch troops, and the token made of bronze or gold in the shape of a fuhu is split into two halves, of which the left half is given to the general and the right half is saved by the emperor. Only when the two tiger charms are used together at the same time, the bearer of the charms is given the right to dispatch troops. Among the collections of the Forbidden City, there are the bronze single "left" character tiger symbol, the tiger symbol of the Grand Master, the bronze tiger symbol of the Marquis of Linyuan, and the Tiger Festival of Wang Ming.
Wang Ming passed on the Tiger Festival to the Collection of the Palace Museum
The RenHu Festival is an artifact of the Warring States period, its shape is flattened, in the shape of a tiger, with its head held high, and its long tail bending from the hips to the back. The tiger's body is inscribed with an inscription of 5 characters: "King's order, fate passed on." "The Tiger Festival is the evidence that the messenger can get food and lodging and mobilize the army when he travels far, and the bearer of the Tiger Festival bears the king's order, and the station he passes through is responsible for reception. In addition to the Collection of the Tiger Festival in the Forbidden City, the National Museum also has a collection of Tiger Festivals from the Warring States Period.
The Tiger Rune of the Great Doctor is in the collection of the Palace Museum
The Forbidden City's collection of the Tiger Charm is also a relic of the Warring States period, this tiger charm is in the shape of a crouching tiger, with its head held high and its tail rolled up. The surface of the tiger's body is inscribed with the inscription: "The Dafu Xinjie, the Mound and the Paper, Expensive." According to the information of the Palace Museum, in the Spring and Autumn Period, there was already an official of "Doctor Huan", whose status was equivalent to that of "Lower Doctor", who was responsible for building flags and drumming in the army. "嬖" is a homophonic pseudo-loan word for "嬖".
Linyuan Hou Bronze Tiger Charm Collection of the Palace Museum
The Linyuan Hou Bronze Tiger Charm is an early Western Han Dynasty object, and its shape is also crouching tiger shaped, with its head held high and its tail. The Forbidden City collects the left half of the symbol, with a square groove on the inside, and the words on the back of the tiger: "With Linyuan Hou for the tiger symbol, the second." "Fu is the proof of the mobilization of the army, its left is awarded to the Linyuan Marquis of the unified army, and its right is in the hands of the emperor, and when it is necessary to mobilize the army, the envoys are sent to the Linyuan Marquis with the right half of the tiger symbol, and when the two halves of the tiger symbol are correct, they can send troops."
It is worth mentioning that the Marquis of Linyuan is not a simple person, and the Sixth Chronology of the Marquis of Gaozu in The Chronicle of the Eighteenth Book of The Marquis of Gaozu says: "Marquis Qi gills of Linyuan, from the beginning of the period, guarded the city with a lieutenant, and served as a lieutenant marquis, five hundred households." Qi Gill was the founding hero of the Western Han Dynasty, and his daughter was Liu Bang's favorite concubine Lady Qi. When Qi Gill was a lieutenant, he commanded the Northern Army. After Liu Bang's death, Lü Hou made Lady Qi into a "human figure", and Qi Gills swallowed his anger. After Lü Hou fell ill and died, the kings of the Liu clan wanted to destroy the forces of Lü's foreign relatives, and Qi Gill did his best to participate in the Northern Army.
Bronze single "left" character tiger symbol Collection of the Palace Museum
The bronze single "left" character tiger charm is a six-dynasty period object, the shape of a crouching tiger open mouth showing sharp teeth, three-dimensional tiger stripe, fierce form. This piece of tiger rune is one and a half of the complete tiger rune, with a single character inscription "left" character. Among the extant tiger runes, the Six Dynasties Tiger Rune is relatively rare.
The ornaments are auspicious and auspicious
For the Chinese nation, the tiger, like the dragon, is the original totem of the ancient period and is a traditional mascot. The ancients had ambivalence towards tigers, on the one hand believing that tigers cannibalize people; on the other hand, they believed that tigers were spiritual divine beasts that could ward off disasters and ward off evil spirits. "Two Han Hirowen" Note: Take the tiger shape to suppress evil, with its prestige is abnormal also. Therefore, many of the ancient ornaments have tiger shapes.
In the collection of the Forbidden City, there are many ornaments with "tigers", such as jade dragon-shaped carved knives, jade tiger-shaped pendants, jade carved tiger-shaped swords, jade ornamented Crouching Tigers, Tian Huangshi Crouching Tigers, White Jade Crouching Tigers and so on.
Jade dragon-shaped carved knife Collected by the Palace Museum
As early as the Shang Dynasty, there were a wide variety of jade, including tools, daily necessities, ornaments and decorative jade. The jade dragon-shaped carving knife is a Shang Dynasty ornament, the material is white jade, but it has been yellow-brown. It is shaped like a jade tiger with a flattened flake-like twisted head and curly tail, and the tiger opens its mouth and can see the sharp teeth in its mouth. The tiger's tail part is polished into a small sharp knife, and the blade part is thinner on both sides. Xu Lin, an expert on jade at the Palace Museum, said in an article written by Xu Lin, a small jade carving knife in the Shang Dynasty, all of which were carved out of the tail blade, and the handle of the knife was the shape of various animals, such as animal shapes, dragon shapes, fish shapes, cicada shapes, tiger shapes, etc., most of which had perforations to be hung, making them beautiful and practical jade ornaments that could be worn and used.
The jade tiger shaped pendant is also a Shang Dynasty ornament, the jade tiger is flattened and flake-shaped, creeping shaped, with four claws extended forward, full of movement. In the Shang Dynasty, jade tigers were more common, with flaky and round carvings, and generally smaller in shape.
Jade ornamented Crouching Tiger Collection of the Palace Museum
The ornaments in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period include the jade ornamental Crouching Tiger, the tiger body as a whole is in the shape of a "bow", the head is delicately carved, the mouth is open, the upper lip is rolled up and the nose is connected, the front and back feet are lying down, the tail is large and rolled up, the tiger body is decorated with "human" glyph-shaped yin line tiger skin pattern, and the limbs are decorated with cloud patterns. Zhang Guangwen, a jade expert at the Palace Museum, said that jade tigers were found many times in tombs in the Spring and Autumn Period and early Warring States periods, and these jade tigers were often used in pairs. The jade tiger of the Spring and Autumn Period is generally wider and more complex than this jade ornamental Crouching Tiger. However, the shape of this jade ornamental Crouching Tiger is more vivid and accurate than that of ordinary works, and it may be a jade piece used in the middle of a group of jade pendants, which is more precious than that of ordinary jade tigers.
Jade carved tiger-shaped sword in the collection of the Palace Museum
The jade carved tiger-shaped sword in the Collection of the Forbidden City is an item from the end of the Warring States to the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, and the upper end is a creeping tiger, with a vicious face, open mouth, staring eyes, waiting for an opportunity to kill prey, and the foot tail is strong and powerful, appearing vivid and lively. The original ornamentation in the lower part was partially ground and a rectangular hole was opened to become a sword. The sword is one of the jade ornaments on ancient decorative swords, which can be worn on the belt to secure the sword to the waist. "Saying": "Ying, sword nose jade ornament also." "So it's also called sword nose. In ancient times, the jade ornaments used for swords generally consisted of four pieces, collectively known as "jade swords", in addition to the sword, there were also sword grids, sword heads and sword dragons. Jade swords arose during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, reached their peak in the Han Dynasty, and gradually declined and disappeared after the Han Dynasty. Historically, it was a treasure that represented aristocratic status and a precious gift.
Everyday goods also love "tiger"
In addition to ornaments, paintings, and utensils, there are also some daily objects in the Collection of the Forbidden City that also contain elements of "tigers". What is more interesting is that some of them are used by the little prince of the Qing Dynasty, and probably the ladies and ladies in the harem also hope that the little prince will "tiger head tiger brain".
Cloth tiger is a traditional Chinese folk art, widely spread in Chinese folk, stemming from the people's worship of tigers. Because tigers are believed to be able to drive away evil spirits and avoid disasters and bring peace and auspiciousness, when the child is born, the gift of cloth tigers is a good wish for the healthy growth of the child. During the Dragon Boat Festival, it is popular to make cloth tigers for children, or to draw tiger faces on children's foreheads with male yellow, implying health, strength and bravery. In the Forbidden City, there is a cloth tiger collected by the Qing Dynasty Imperial Palace, with a huge head, a long tail, a majestic shape, a painted tiger spot all over the body, and the word "Wang" on the top of the head. This cloth tiger can be used as a toy during the day and as a pillow at night, which is both beautiful and practical.
Apricot yellow satin tiger head cotton hood Collection of the Palace Museum
In addition to cloth tigers, people also sewed tiger head hats in the shape of tigers, hoping that children would be as brave and powerful as soldiers wearing tiger helmet armor. It is also sewn into tiger head shoes, so that children can wear shoes with tiger eyes as soon as they are born, and take the right path and follow the path all their lives. The Forbidden City has an apricot yellow satin tiger head cotton hood, which was an object from the Qing Tongzhi period. Ruan Weiping, a research librarian at the Palace Museum, wrote that this tiger head hat is made of apricot yellow satin, the face of the hat is slightly oblong, and the appearance resembles a small cape. The hat is embroidered with tiger eyebrows, tiger eyes, tiger nose, tiger mouth, tiger whiskers and other ornaments, and the character "king" symbolizes the mightiness of the tiger. Lining the moon white silk, inner cotton. The small tiger head hat hidden in the Qing Palace is made of fine materials, which is more superior than the folk tiger head hat, and from the perspective of the Qing Dynasty costume hierarchy, it should be worn by the little prince.
Both tiger hats and tiger shoes. The Forbidden City has a pair of yellow satin nailed gold thread tiger head shoes, which are also items during the Qing Dynasty. Tiger head shoes with apricot yellow satin as the upper, which is embroidered with tapestry and spikes, the combination of gold and black makes the pattern vivid and bright, and the style of the shoes is small and cute. These yellow nailed gold thread tiger head shoes were also worn by the young prince of the Qing Dynasty.