How many cultural relics are there in the Old Summer Palace? Opinions on this issue are still widely debated. From the historical materials of the Qing Dynasty archives, the research articles of the Palace Museum, and the "Guheyuan Furnishings and Qing Archives", it is speculated that there are no less than 1.5 million cultural relics in the Heyday of the Yuanmingyuan, of which the most interesting is the bronze statue of the Zodiac.
The Yuanmingyuan was built by the Qianlong Emperor. It is reported that one day, the Qianlong Emperor idly came to flip through the books to see a book depicting a Western palace. The Western stone buildings depicted in the book were magnificent and generous, and the Qianlong Emperor was immediately fascinated, and he decided to build such palaces in the Yuanmingyuan as well.
It just so happened that at that time, there was a "foreigner" who was working as a painter at the court, called Lang Shining. Lang Shining is an amazing artist. His original name was Giuseppe Gastirione, and he was an Italian. When the Kangxi Emperor was still alive, he came to China as a Religious Scholar of the Catholic Jesuits, and stayed in China for forty or fifty years, going through the kang, yong, and qian dynasties, and was highly used by the three emperors. After Entering the Court, Lang Shining entered the Ruyi Pavilion and became a court painter. He brought Western painting techniques and showed the emperor and other court painters the charm of European chiaroscuro.
The Qianlong Emperor assigned this not-so-easy task to Lang Shining. Lang Shining worked for a few days, and felt that one person was unable to do anything, so he found another foreigner, Jiang Youren, to assist him.
Lang Shining and Jiang Youren designed a unique Western-style chiming fountain, the "Hydraulic Clock". This "hydraulic clock" is at the gate of Haiyan Hall, and its full name is "Ten Zodiac Chimes Fountain". Because of its peculiar conception and full of spirit, it was deeply loved by the Qianlong Emperor.
In the prosperous qianlong dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was strong in national strength, and the level of craftsmanship was at its peak, and the bronze statue of the beast head of the Twelve Zodiac signs in the Yuanmingyuan was naturally not inferior. The copper they used was alloy copper specially made for the court, containing many precious metals, the same copper used in the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace in Beijing. This copper is deep in color and contains essence, which will not rust through wind and rain, which is a must.
However, with the passage of time, the British and French allies returned to Europe after burning the Yuanmingyuan, and in the first two or three years of the beginning, they did some auctions for the cultural relics of the Yuanmingyuan, and many precious cultural relics were scattered in the hands of some princes and nobles or large merchants in Europe at that time. This period lasted almost 120 years, and the first place was unknown. It was not until the 1980s that traces of several of the bronze statues began to be found.
Among all the beast heads that have returned to the motherland, the most tortuous return process is the horse head. As one of the famous bronze statues of the Zodiac at home and abroad in the Yuanmingyuan, the bronze statue of the horse's head is exquisitely crafted, whether it is the horse's eyes, mouth, ears, or the laying of horse hair, it is all staggered and natural. It is said that because Qianlong belongs to horses, the bronze statue of the horse head has received special "care" in the zodiac.
It is reported that among the bronze statues of the heads of the twelve zodiac animals in the Yuanmingyuan, there are 7 pieces of cow heads, monkey heads, tiger heads, pig heads, horse heads, rabbit heads, and mouse heads that have been returned. The other 5 bronze statues of dragon heads, snake heads, sheep heads, chicken heads, and dog heads have not been known, which is a rare thing.