The cattle are retired, and the tiger welcomes the new. The Lunar Year of the Tiger has arrived, and together we will enjoy the old objects related to the tiger and learn about the stories related to the tiger.
Bronze tiger hammer of the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The lid and stream of this bronze are decorated with tiger stripes, hence the name Tiger Chain. (Source: National Museum of China official website)
Tiggo You'an
The tiger is the only beast in the zodiac. When it comes to beasts of prey, we also think of lions, but the reason why lions are not in the zodiac may be that lions come from outside the country, but tigers are native to China.
Tiger is a cat, there are nine subspecies, of which five species are distributed in China, namely the Siberian tiger, Xinjiang tiger, South China tiger, Indochina tiger, Bengal tiger, east and west, north and south can see tigers, the ancients are no stranger to tigers, the image of the tiger is often appeared on various utensils.
In the "Tiggo You'an: 2022 Chinese New Year Exhibition" currently on display at the National Museum, there is a bronze tiger hammer from the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The inscription on this bronze vessel tells the world that it is a hammer, and experts believe that the hammer is a cup, just two different names for one thing. The bronze is 25.3 centimeters high, with three hoof-shaped feet to stabilize the body, and a majestic tiger is coiled on the lid, revealing its neat teeth. The tiger's tail was cocked into a round hole, and there was also a round hole in the dragon's head-shaped chain, which should have been connected by a chain, and now it no longer exists. There is also a long stream on the body, which has been made by the craftsmen to take the shape of a fuhu. Because the lid and the stream have tiger ornaments, it is called tiger lock.
The purpose of the tiger chain is therefore believed to be used in conjunction with a plate in the "Wo Li". We wash our hands before eating today, as was the case with the ancients, and they were more dignified and exquisite. One person holds a hammer or cup, fills it with water, and slowly pours the water out, while the other person washes his hands with water and the water falls into the dish. The cultural relics people Sun Ji believed that it was a pity that such a delicate artifact of the tiger lock was used to hold water, it should be used to hold tulip juice, which was an indispensable raw material for making the most expensive wine used to worship the gods at that time. The tiger lock is an old artifact of the Qing Palace, which was originally properly displayed in the Yuanmingyuan, until October 1860, after the British and French troops looted the Yuanmingyuan, another fire destroyed the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens", and a large number of cultural relics were taken as the trophies of the invaders and left the homeland. Royal Marine Officer Harry Evans kidnapped the Tiger Chain back to Britain, which has been in his family's collection ever since. In March 2018, Tiger Chain appeared on the website of an auction house in the United Kingdom, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage's request to withdraw the auction house was rejected. In April, a mysterious buyer photographed the tiger lock and offered to donate it unconditionally to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. In June, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage decided to carry out the acceptance of cultural relics under the premise of adhering to the ownership of lost cultural relics. In November, Tiger Lock returned to his homeland after a 158-year absence and was subsequently admitted to the National Museum of Tibet.
We have an idiom "let the tiger return to the mountain", may wish to jump out of the traditional understanding, from a new perspective to explain, the tiger comes from the mountain forest, it is the ecosystem of the mountain forest that nourishes it, in the mountain forest it feels most comfortable, forced to move it to other places, it will feel uncomfortable. This is true of tigers, but it is not the case with tiger locks, and it is not so with those lost cultural relics.
The Lintong Museum in Xi'an houses gilded winged tigers from the Qin and Han dynasties. (File photo)
It's like a tiger
The tiger is at the top of the food chain, and it will not stop chasing its prey until it reaches its goal, and the appearance of the tiger attracts people's attention, and there is a little fear in the eyes. Tiger is a symbol of strength, often associated with the military, such as the ancients often used "Tiger Ben Army" to name the most elite army, "Ben" is "Ben", as early as the Zhou Dynasty fell in the Shang Dynasty's Battle of Muye There was a Tiger Ben Army, King Wu of Zhou "has three hundred chariots, three hundred Tiger Ben".
In ancient times, the voucher for mobilizing the army was also made into the shape of a tiger, so it was called "tiger rune". The National Museum houses a Qin Dynasty tiger charm with twelve golden characters written on it: "The rune of the armored soldier, the right is in the emperor, the left is in Yangling." "The tiger charm is divided into two from the middle, the right symbol is in the hands of the emperor, the left symbol is in the hands of the head of the army stationed in Yangling, and when the emperor wants to mobilize the army, the envoy will hold the right symbol to the local area to check with the left symbol. Today we also have an idiom "if the knot" to illustrate this matter.
During the Warring States period, The Xin Lingjun of the State of Wei was greatly distressed because he could not get the other half of the Tiger Charm. This was in 255 BC, when the Qin army besieged the capital of the Zhao state, Handan, and the State of Zhao asked the State of Wei for help, and the State of Wei sent jin to lead an army to rescue Zhao, but the king of Wei was intimidated by the power of the Qin army, so that the Jin dynasty stopped halfway. The Wei army was delayed, but the Zhao state was anxious, xin lingjun's sister married the zhao state of Pingyuan jun, pingyuan jun reproached Wei guo for not paying attention to righteousness, and the heavy-hearted Xin Lingjun planned to lead his own disciples to fight the Qin army to the death, which was an act of hitting the stone with an egg. Fortunately, one of Xin Lingjun's disciples, Hou Wei, came up with a method, and Xin Lingjun was kind to Ru Ji, the favored king of Wei, and asked her to steal the other half of the tiger charm from the King of Wei, so that he could send troops to save Zhao. In accordance with this law, Xin Lingjun did obtain the other half of the Tiger Charm and rushed to the front line to replace Jin And commanded the Wei army to repel the Qin army. This is the story of "stealing the charm to save Zhao".
Tigers are one of the fastest animals on land, and if they have wings, they will also dominate the sky. We have the idiom "like a tiger", which describes a person who is stronger after receiving help. The tiger with wings can also be seen in ancient cultural relics, and the treasure of the town hall of the Lintong Museum in Xi'an is a gilded winged tiger of the Qin and Han dynasties.
This cultural relic is 21.1 cm long, crawling, the tiger's body is slender, the tail is cocked, the eyes are embellished with rubies, and the most striking thing is that the tiger's shoulders grow wings, which adds to the tiger's mighty momentum. In the Qin and Han dynasties, high-foot furniture was not yet popular, people sat on the floor, and placed seats in the four corners of the mat to avoid the wrinkles of the mat, and this gilded winged tiger was also likely to be a seat town.
The ancients put wings on many animals in their imagination, which is a yearning for the sky. Ancient Greece had a mythical beast called Griffin, the body of a lion combined with the head and wings of an eagle, which fused the land with the king of the sky. Griffin spread from abroad to China through the steppe Silk Road, and was found in ancient tombs from time to time, reflecting the intersection of Eastern and Western civilizations.
Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku, Xuanwu collectively known as the "Four Gods" or "Four Spirits", Jiangsu Yizheng Museum has a collection of Western Han Painted Feather People Four Gods Pattern Lacquer, the picture shows the portrait of the white tiger, the white tiger swooped down on the beast in front of him, the expression is very vivid. (File photo)
Tiger Dragon Pan
In 1949, when the People's Liberation Army broke through the natural dangers of the Yangtze River and occupied the city of Nanjing, Mao Zedong wrote a poem of seven laws, poem Yun: "Zhongshan wind and rain rise and turn yellow, and a million heroes cross the river." The tiger is better than the past, and the world is turned upside down. It is advisable to chase the poor and the poor, and not to become the overlord of the famous school. If the heavens are full of love and the heavens are old, the right way in the world is vicissitudes. ”
Throughout the ages, people often use "tiger and dragon disk" to describe the geographical situation of Nanjing City, the so-called "Zhong Fu Longpan, Shicheng Tiger" is also, Zhongshan stands like a dragon on the east side of the city, and the stone city on Qingliang Mountain crouches like a tiger on the west side of the city. Stone City was built by Sun Quan, is a military fortress, later Sun Quan called the emperor, Dingdu Jianye (that is, Nanjing), in today's Nanjing city built a capital city, this city south of the five gates, the north of the open a gate for Xuanwu Gate, the east of a door for canglong gate, the west of a door for the White Tiger Gate.
The ancients associated the four directions of east, west, south, and north with specific four animals, namely the left green dragon, the right white tiger, the former suzaku, and the later Xuanwu. These four animals are collectively called the "Four Gods" or "Four Spirits". In the naming of city gates, roads, buildings, etc., the ancients widely used the name of "four gods", and the image of "four gods" often appeared on cultural relics.
At the Yangzhou Museum's Year of the Tiger Zodiac Art Exhibition, the audience can see a Piece of Painted Western Han Dynasty Feather Man Four Gods Pattern Lacquer Embroidered from Yizheng (the original is extremely fragile, the exhibit is a replica). It is a kind of honor guard fan that can shield the wind and sand and sunlight, can block the eyes of attention, and hide behind things that do not want to be seen by others. This lacquered piece, which is only 0.9 centimeters thick, is painted with ornaments on both sides, showing the superb craftsmanship of the Han Dynasty.
The image of the "Four Gods" is painted on the front of the lacquer, and we focus our attention on the tiger in it, a winged feathered man driving the tiger, the tiger's eyes are wide open, the tiger's mouth is wide open, revealing sharp teeth, frightening a strange beast in front of it, which is also a bit like a tiger, to the ground, with four claws facing the sky, and a frightened expression on its face. The expressions of the two animals are extremely vivid, especially the expressions of the strange beasts, and the audience seems to have watched a play on this cultural relic. In the eyes of the ancients, as long as the mighty tiger is controlled, not only can not hurt people, but also can scare people away harmful things, the above picture illustrates this, and the cute tiger head shoes worn by children also illustrate this point.
Let's look at a Sui Dynasty bronze mirror collected by the Shaanxi History Museum, the inner circle is arranged according to the orientation of the green dragon, white tiger, suzaku, Xuanwu, the outer circle is divided into twelve small grids, carved out of the zodiac, there is a circle of text between the two circles, "Rongjin Jade, the figure square writes the circle." The quality is bright and beautiful, and the flowers are fresh. Inside the dragon tray, in front of the Luan stage. Smile at the shadows, look at the makeup. "Most of the bronze mirror inscriptions imply auspiciousness, and this side is no exception, praising the excellent texture of the bronze mirror itself and wishing the users of the bronze mirror beautiful and happy."
On the bronze mirror, the "four gods" not only appear at the same time as the zodiac, but also appear at the same time as the bagua and so on. Some scholars have pointed out that the mirror surface of some copper mirrors can be imagined as the sky, and the ornaments selected and their placement are meaningful. The ancients looked up at the celestial signs and observed the twenty-eight stars, which were divided into four groups according to the orientation, and the seven stars in the west were connected together like tigers, and so on, which may be the origin of the "four gods".
Moving the things in heaven to the human world and applying the laws of nature to human affairs is precisely the unique idea of "respecting heaven and earth" that Chinese.
Xu Beihong's "Tiger Map" axis, now in the Palace Museum. (File photo)
Tiger tiger wind
The ancients had a fear of tiger attitudes, and the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Zhi had a poem "Tiger Walking": "The trees in the north of the South Mountain are meditative, and the tiger travels around the forest in daylight." Xiang Wan's body was a Taoist food, and the elk in the mountains were silent. Every year the adopted son is in the deep valley, and the male and female go up the mountain. There is a mountain village near the cave in the valley, and the chief takes the yellow calf from the village. The five young people did not dare to shoot, and came to the forest to see the traces. "The fierce tiger bites the villagers' cattle, the villagers can't take the tiger, and those Wuling teenagers who shout and go to the end of the world with their swords do not dare to shoot the tiger, but only dare to see the traces left by the tiger after they leave."
There are also those who are not afraid of tigers. The story of Wu Song fighting the tiger is well known, and we don't need to say it again. Li Guang, the "flying general" of the Han Dynasty, was not afraid of tigers, and one day he went out hunting, and vaguely saw a tiger in the grass, pulled a bow to shoot a tiger, and when he looked closely, it was not a tiger, but a large stone, and the arrow was deeply submerged into the stone, which showed the strength of Li Guang. Li Guang wanted to see if he could shoot an arrow into the stone under the premise that he knew that it was a stone, but the result was failure, and posterity thus extended the truth of "sincerity, the golden stone is open". It is said that Li Guang also made the night pot look like a tiger, which is the origin of "tiger". In many museums, you can see the celadon tigers of the Six Dynasties era, when the tigers are completely invincible.
As the king of the hundred beasts, the tiger is proud and exclusive, and it will also make people envious, hoping that they are as strong and confident as the tiger. The Palace Museum has a collection of "Tiger Diagram" scrolls painted by Xu Beihong in his early years, in which the tiger lies on a stone, turning his head and looking back into the distance, showing the posture of a king. Xu Beihong completed this painting in 1918, when he was 23 years old, he was famous in the art world, with a big dream, a dream of improving Chinese painting, this year he published "The Theory of The Improvement of Chinese Painting", saying that "the best of the ancient law is kept, the desperation is followed, the poor are changed, the insufficient are increased, and the Western paintings can be absorbed", but he did not have a deep understanding of Western painting at this time, and it was also at the end of this year that he obtained the qualification of studying in France. In 1918, Xu Beihong was as graceful and ambitious as a tiger, and there was a big cause to be developed in front of him, and this cause would go down in history.
Xu Beihong's painting is also a testimony to friendship. In 1918, Ma Heng presented Xu Beihong with Hanwei calligraphy rubbings, and Ma Heng was a good friend of Xu Beihong, a famous Jinshi family, who had long served in the Palace Museum. Xu Beihong was overjoyed to receive this generous gift, and naturally wanted to express something, so he carefully drew this "Tiger Map" axis and gave it to Ma Heng.
The Lunar Year of the Tiger has arrived, borrowing the meaning of this "Tiger Map" axis, I wish readers friends -
There is a fierce tiger in the heart, and the courage and perseverance are promising;
Sniff the roses, the benevolent people love things true, good, and beautiful.
Source: China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily