At 10:39 today, we ushered in the last of the twenty-four solar terms, and the last of winter, the Great Cold.
"The wind whistles in the north and the frost is heavy, and the clouds press on the south mountain and the snow is high." Coinciding with a flurry of snow, not only did Beijing turn back into Beiping City, but it also made the weather a little colder. Modern people have a variety of ways to heat, and in ancient times, people also had many ways to keep warm, and drinking alcohol was one of them.
God's Face
Poly Museum of Art
This collection of the Poly Museum of Art[yǒu] is a god face on both sides and the body of the god, the god face has double horns, bulging eyes, straight nose and small ears, big eyes and bulging eyes, two fangs, and a slight smile in the mighty. At the top of the lid stands an owl, an owl. The beam consists of two dragons with a shared tail, with the dragon's tail upturned. At each end of the beam is a monster made of an elephant trunk, a bull's head, and a sheep's horn. A tapir head protrudes from the center of the body, a tapir that is an anteater that is currently only distributed in tropical Southeast Asia such as Malaysia. The foot of the circle is decorated with a double-body dragon, the dragon's head is centered and convex, and the dragon's body extends from side to side; it echoes the double-bodied dragon on the beam.
卣 is a kind of ancient Chinese wine vessel, which was popular in the Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty. Bronzes of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, no matter how complex the shape, the surface is decorated with carved patterns, but the patterns are different in depth and level. And this divine face is completely a three-dimensional work of art, with extraordinary artistic appeal. Experts consider it a once-in-a-century artistic treasure, a work of genius.
Of course, on such a cold day, it is best to warm the wine before drinking. In the bronze vessel there is a special bucket [jiāo dòu] for warming wine.
Duck-shaped handle bronze bucket
China Agricultural Museum
This bronze bucket with a duck-shaped handle in the Collection of the Agricultural Museum of China is 29 cm long, 18 cm wide and 21 cm high, with an outer fold at the mouth, a shallow abdomen with a flat bottom, a concave string pattern on the outer wall of the abdomen, and a three-legged outer skim. A curved-necked duck-shaped handle protrudes from one side of the wall, the head is raised, and the other side is in the shape of a ducktail, leaving a short dc on the side between the head and tail.
It first appeared in the Han Dynasty, became popular during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and gradually disappeared during the Tang and Song dynasties. This duck-shaped handle bronze bucket shape is vivid and chic, full of life interest.
"The wine is self-contained, and the golden furnace beast is warm." In the snowy cold winter moon, about three or five friends, sitting around the stove, drinking warm wine, eating delicious food, and enjoying the snow scenery, people can't help but sigh that it is worth it!
Cloud goose pattern soaring ear three-legged gold furnace
Guanfu Museum
This piece of cloud goose pattern cupola three-legged gold furnace in the Guanfu Museum, gold, luxury [chǐ] mouth, mouth edge placed two cupola ears, shallow abdomen, lower bearing three columnar feet. The three legs are slender, thick and thin, and evenly distributed at the bottom of the furnace, which is a typical shape of the Yuan Dynasty. The abdomen hammers out the cloud goose pattern from the inside, which looks like a relief from the outside. Geese were quite popular in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and Li Shizhen recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica that "geese have four virtues: cold is from north to south, ending in Hengyang, and heat is from south to north, returning to the Yanmen, and its letter is also; flying is orderly and before and after the sound, and its etiquette is also; the lost couple is no longer matched, and its festival is also; the night is a group of people and a slave patrols the police, and the day is a lu to avoid paying, and its wisdom is also".
"At this point in the world, the winter colors are over, and the warm spring flowers bloom not long ago." Today is a great cold, may you be happy in your years, and win every year.
Source: Poly Museum of Art
China Agricultural Museum, Guanfu Museum