China is an ancient civilization with a long history of five thousand years, there is no shortage of powerful dynasties in history, economic prosperity, cultural prosperity, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, political corruption, invaded by the great powers, resulting in a large number of excellent cultural relics in China being plundered by bandits, lost overseas, many cultural relics in our country can not be seen now, can only go to foreign countries to see.
According to UNESCO, China has lost as many as 1.64 million cultural relics overseas, which are collected by 47 museums around the world, and if you add private collections, it will be even more amazing (more than 10 million pieces).
Today, Xiaobian takes stock of 10 rare cultural relics that have been lost overseas, of which the United Kingdom is one of the countries with the largest plunder and collection of Chinese cultural relics, with a collection of 23,000 Chinese cultural relics and about 2,000 long-term displays.
NO.1 Double Sheep Zun
Dynasty: Shang Dynasty
Stream: Britain Museum
Shuangyang Zun is a representative work of the Chinese Bronze Age, with a barrel-shaped mouth, a large curved abdomen of a double sheep's prodromal opposite-shaped horn, and a string pattern and a dragon face under the zun, which is extremely rare. The bronze wine cellar vessel used for this ceremony was cast in 1200 BC – 1050 BC in Hunan Province, China's Yangtze River Basin. In 1860, it was plundered and lost overseas after the "burning of the Old Summer Palace", and is now in the collection of the British Museum in the United Kingdom.
NO.2 Five-color parrot diagram
Dynasty: Song Dynasty
Stream: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
The five-color parrot figure is a Chinese painting made by Zhao Yichang in the Song Dynasty, because there is an autograph inscription of Emperor Huizong Zhao, which has always been under the name of Emperor Huizong, and is one of the best masterpieces in the works of Emperor Huizong of Song. During the Qianlong period, it was collected in the Inner Province, and in the early years of the Republic of China, it was collected by Yamamoto Andjiro and flowed into Japan. Shortly after Yamamoto's death, the painting flowed into the United States and is currently in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA.
NO, 3 Bronze statue of the head of the beast in the Zodiac of the Yuanmingyuan
Dynasty: Qing Dynasty
Flow landing: unknown, unknown
The bronze statue of the head of the beast in the Zodiac of the Yuanmingyuan, originally part of the fountain outside the Haiyan Hall of the Yuanmingyuan, is a red bronze cast during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, containing many precious metals, the same copper used in the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace in Beijing.
The bronze statue of the head of the beast in the 12 zodiac signs of the Yuanmingyuan, with deep color and essence, has endured wind and rain without rust, which is a must.
In 860, the British and French coalition forces invaded China, burned the Yuanmingyuan, the beast head bronze statue began to lose overseas, as of December 2020, the cow head, monkey head, tiger head, pig head, rat head, rabbit head, horse head, including 7 lost animal head bronze statues in the Yuanmingyuan returned to the motherland through different ways, the remaining 5 are still missing.
NO.4 Obscure Tianmu Tea Bowl
Dynasty: Southern Song Dynasty
Stream: Shizukado Bunko, Tokyo, Japan
The Yaochang Tianmu Tea Bowl is a national treasure-level cultural relic, which was built for the black glaze of the Song Dynasty and was used by the Song people to fight tea. The Yao changing Tianmu tea bowl is a unique product of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the success of firing is extremely accidental. Later lost to Japan, it is currently stored in the Shizukado Bunko in Tokyo, Japan, and this bowl has a pattern due to natural kiln changes, and its flares will shine in the dark, and the color changes and is unpredictable.
NO.5 Bronze gilded stupa
Flowing Ground: China Pavilion at the Palais des Bleu, France
Bronze gilded stupa, about 2 meters high, inlaid with emeralds throughout each layer, rare stupa decoration during the Qianlong period, originally the decoration in front of the emperor's throne of the Zhengda Guangming Hall in the Yuanmingyuan, is basically similar to the existing stupa in the Forbidden City, and is one of the few gilded artifacts preserved in the hou market.
The bronze gilded stupa was plundered in 1860 after the Anglo-French coalition "burned the Yuanmingyuan" and has been sent overseas to this day, and the authenticity is currently stored in the Chinese Pavilion of the Palais de Tembelau in France.
NO.6 Tiger man-eater
Stream landing: France, Japan
Tiger cannibal halogen is a bronze treasure of the late Shang Dynasty, a wine vessel of the Shang Dynasty, and two pieces are said to have been excavated at the junction of Anhua and Ningxiang in Hunan Province, and later both were exiled abroad. One is in the collection in France and the other in Japan.
As a ceremonial vessel in ancient China, she was a symbol of the aristocratic class, and the Shang Dynasty used the tiger as the surface ornament of the fog, trying to show the majesty of the aristocratic power.
NO.7 Liangzhu culture Yu chun
Dynasty: Stone Age
Stream: The British Museum
As a typical artifact of Liangzhu culture, Liangzhu Yuqun has been sought after by jade lovers since ancient times because of its exquisite ornamentation and important historical value, as well as its great artistic charm. Some porcelain in the Song Dynasty began to imitate the shape of Liangzhu Yuqun.
The shape of the jade is an outer and inner circle, representing the "heavenly circle place", symbolizing the supreme divine power, and is a ceremonial vessel used in ancient sacrifices.
Jade is the essence of Liangzhu culture, the British Museum collection of this Neolithic Liangzhu culture jade 49.5 cm high, dark green, the inside of the body is cylindrical hollow, the outside of the thickness of the square column, horizontal division into 19 sections, the surface of the grooves similar to ladders, Westerners first saw when mistakenly thought that this is the "Tower of Babel" recorded in the Bible.
In 1860, after the "burning of the Old Summer Palace", it was plundered and lost overseas, and is now in the British Museum in the British Museum. The shape and details of this jade chun reflect the extraordinary level of craftsmanship at that time, and it is one of the highest known jade chun, which can be called the "tall and thin handsome" in the jade chun, and it is also the only piece of Liangzhu cultural jade chun in the Collection of the British Museum.
NO.8 Business Chart
Dynasty: Yuan Dynasty
Qiankun business map, volume length 27.8 cm, width 352.9 cm, silk color, this volume can be divided into 6 parts, each group is a number of flowers and grass intertwined as the center, a variety of small animals shuttle through it, seemingly vibrant, idyllic fun, in fact depicts the animals in order to survive and hunt the scene, and thus compare the world. After the inscription of many people, most of them are Yuan people, which can be seen in the mood of the Literati of the Yuan Dynasty.
The Qiankun business map is well circulated, whether in China or in the United Kingdom, there are traces to be found. Qiankun business picture volume in 1797 crossed the ocean to the United Kingdom, the British Museum in 1998 under the sponsorship of the National Art Collection Foundation and BrooksChwell Permanent Fund to spend a huge amount of money to buy, in the silk envelope there is an Englishman William Butler medallion, the date of the chapter is marked as 1797, is the earliest known British collection of Chinese paintings, once listed by the British Museum as one of the "ten most precious collections of Chinese cultural relics", occupies a special position in the history of Chinese cultural relics collection in the United Kingdom.
NO.9 Kang Hougui
Dynasty: Western Zhou
Kanghou Gui is 24 cm high, 41 cm in caliber, with a loose neck, a slight drum on the abdomen, and a high circle foot with a wide edge. The head of the animal has a rectangular earlobe with a neck and a circle of feet interspersed with fire and four-petal orders, and a straight stripe on the abdomen.
The inscription on the bottom of the vessel is 4 lines and 24 characters, and the inscription can prove that the son of King Wen and the ancestor of the Kang clan, Kang Shufeng, was first sealed in Kangcheng when King Ke yin of Wu was sealed, and then moved to Weiguo after King Cheng quelled the "Rebellion of the Three Prisons".
Early Western Zhou bronzes, unearthed in Henan in 1931, were subsequently sold overseas and donated to the British Museum by Brooke Hughell in 1977.
Kang Hougui's simple and dignified shape is not only a precious bronze heavy weapon of the early Western Zhou Dynasty, but also a rare physical material that proves that the Kang clan of Hai Nei obtained the surname of the feudal state, and is a witness to major historical events such as Wu Geng and Feng Kangshu of the Zhou Gong, which has important historical significance and intergenerational value.
NO.10 Yuan blue and white cloud dragon elephant ear bottle
Flowing Land: British Museum No. 95 "Chinese Ceramics"
This pair of blue and white cloud dragon elephant ear vases are also called Daweide vases, blue and white elephant ear vases or zhengqing vases, both of which are disabled and crooked, one is 63.3 cm high and 21 cm in diameter; the other is 63.6 cm high and 22 cm wide, with a huge shape and eight layers of ornamentation, in the order of tangled flat chrysanthemum, banana leaf, flying phoenix reishi, tangled lotus, four-clawed cloud dragon, haitao, tangled peony and covered lotus miscellaneous treasures.
The creation of blue and white porcelain in the Yuan Dynasty is an epoch-making event in the history of ceramics. Since then, colored porcelain with blue and white as the main body has become the mainstream variety of porcelain, the color glaze that has always occupied the mainstream position in the past has relegated to a secondary position, and the aesthetics of ceramics have entered the colorful modern era from the middle age of simplicity and beauty. Therefore, after the historical value and artistic value of Yuan Qinghua were recognized by the academic community, it immediately attracted the attention of the art collection community.
Blue and white yunlong elephant ear vase, also known as Daweide bottle, blue and white elephant ear vase or called to the normal type yuanqing vase, it is the only Chinese porcelain named after the surname in the world, and it is also a very important milestone in the history of Chinese ceramics, and is the standard for identifying yuanqinghua.
Originally in the collection of the David Foundation, London, the University of London, the bottle was transferred to the British Museum in 2007 due to operating cost pressures, and from 2009, the British Museum's No. 95 "Chinese Ceramics" exhibition hall was opened, which opened the "long-term loan" tour of Chinese artworks collected by the David Foundation in the British Museum.
In addition to these, we all know what rare literature logistics in our motherland have fallen abroad, and we can leave a message in the comment area to discuss.