Jiangchuan Lijiashan unearthed a cow tiger copper case
A four-man tiger hunting bronze buckle collected by Jiangchuan Lijiashan
Animal fighting copper shellfish excavated from Shizhai Mountain in Jinning
A winged tiger silver belt buckle excavated from Jinning Shizhai Mountain
Tiger-shaped gold ornaments excavated from Shizhai Mountain in Jinning
Lihu Niu Gongge excavated from Shizhai Mountain, Jinning (partial)
The Year of the New Year, commonly known as the Year of the Tiger, the image of the tiger can be seen everywhere on the festive items of the Spring Festival. More than 2,000 years ago, this grandeur also continued to appear on the bronzes cast in the ancient Dian Kingdom. Ancient Dian bronzes are known for their realism, and social life, life, birds and animals, flowers, birds, fish and insects are all active in various bronze images with a vivid posture. During the ancient Dian Dynasty, the tiger was a real beast in people's production and life, so the tiger became a common expression object in the production and living utensils of the Dian people. The image of the tiger on the ancient Dian bronze also pinned on the various feelings of the Dian people. From these various tiger images, we can also glimpse the social and historical features of the Dian Kingdom more than 2,000 years ago, the relationship between man and nature, and the various forms of sentient beings.
The Niuhu copper case is reinterpreted
Speaking of the tiger image of the ancient Dian bronze, the most famous is of course the Warring States "Bull Tiger Copper Case" unearthed in Lijiashan, Jiangchuan, and the main structure of the artifact is a "sealed cow" with a giant horn ridge. It uses the four legs of the "sealed cow" as its foot, and "flattens" the back of the cow to make it a lower curved disc shape for the sacrifice. The ox's tail climbs a tiger, biting the ox's tail, the front paws are tightly clasped to the edge of the case, the bow is drooping, and the hind legs are standing on the ox's leg. On the two horizontal stalls before and after the two horizontal stalls, a slightly smaller standing bull crosses the belly of the big bull, with a unique shape and exquisite craftsmanship. The Niuhu copper case is one of the iconic artifacts of Yunnan bronze culture and is famous all over the world.
In the Kingdom of Yunnan, the tiger was the king of the hundred beasts and a symbol of authority; the ox was a sign of wealth and life. Tiger eating cattle is not only a true reflection of the relationship between real-world carnivores and herbivores, but also contains the Yunnan people's knowledge and understanding of the ultimate proposition of life, "death". The calf steps out from under the belly of the big cow, which is not explained as "cow calf protection", but rather represents "new life", a metabolism of life. The Niuhu Copper Case uses "tiger eating cattle" to express "death" and "calf" to interpret "new life", skillfully expressing the Yunnan people's desire for wealth, life and wind and rain, livestock reproduction, and Guotai and Min'an. Therefore, this is a celebration of life, through more than 2,000 years of history, and the cycle continues to be endless.
The image of the tiger and the cow has become the key theme of the Dian people, showing the love of the Dian people for the tiger and the cow. Coincidentally, among the many reliefs at the site of the Persian Empire more than 2500 years ago, there is also a "lion eating cattle figure", a lion swooping on the back of the cow's buttocks, the cow's front legs are raised, and it looks back to make a frightened appearance. This is a typical example of the art of relief in Persepolis. Persian folk believe that the lion bites the bull represents the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, and this theme may also be related to the Persian calendar. Thousands of miles apart, the ancient Dian Kingdom and Persia have an inexplicable similarity in artistic conception, which not only makes us feel the wonder of creation, but also cannot help but think about the various possibilities of cultural dissemination and exchange of the "Southern Silk Road".
Cultural exchanges are in full swing
Belt buckle is a common thing in our lives, it is an integral part of the belt, in ancient times also known as with the card, with hinge, buckle and so on. Jinning Shizhaishan Tomb unearthed a piece of silver and gold inlaid stone buckle in the Western Han Dynasty, which we call "winged tiger silver belt buckle". The buckle is silver, with curved hollow grooves to lead the belt, with teeth to buckle holes, its structure is similar to the belt buckle we use today, using the hammer and disc process to form a protruding tiger pattern decoration, the tiger shoulder ribs have wings, the tiger eye is inlaid with yellow glass beads, and the tiger body is also decorated with turquoise beads and gold pieces. The winged tiger holds a branch on its right front paw, and the mountain rocks and cirrus clouds behind it are swirling and churning. "Like a tiger adding wings" is our common idiom, but unexpectedly such a vivid example will appear in the Yunnan culture more than 2,000 years ago. In the ancient mainland book "Shan Hai Jing • Hai Nei Bei Jing", it was recorded that there was a man-eating beast "Poor Qi", which was shaped like a tiger and had wings, and its shape was also in line with the animal on this silver belt buckle.
Among the many cultural relics unearthed in Shizhai Mountain, there are few silverware, such as exquisite craftsmanship of wing tiger silver belt buckle, and the decorative techniques of various "gems" such as wrong gold craftsmanship, inlaid glass, turquoise and so on are also very special. According to Kao, this method of placing concave leaf patterns in the parts of the animal body to set gems is from the Siberian region and is unique to the animal ornamentation of the Scythians. Buckles are used by nomads, and the "three trees" held by the front paws of winged tigers also reflect typical West Asian cultural characteristics. Therefore, this winged tiger silver belt buckle should belong to the foreign object of the Yunnan Kingdom.
Guandu Yangfutou Cemetery has also unearthed a gold buckle related to the tiger, the main body is decorated with dragon patterns, and there is a small tiger under the dragon head, with a roaring mouth and a cute attitude. Mr. Guo Wu, an archaeologist in the Eurasian steppe, believes that the central government in the Han and Jin dynasties strengthened the authority of the Han Dynasty by stipulating the types and ranks of dragons, tianlu, evil spirits, tigers and other beasts. These buckles were also given to high-ranking nobles and officials within the ruling class of the Han and Jin Dynasties, and most of the similar buckles unearthed in China, including the surrounding areas, should be political relics designed and produced by the official workshops of the Central Plains Dynasty and gifted by the highest levels of the Central Plains Dynasty.
The tiger's life-and-death struggle
In nature, the tiger is the king of the hundred beasts, so it often appears on various occasions as a "victor", such as a "tiger eating pig bronze buckle" unearthed from Shizhai Mountain in Jinning, a wild boar runs away with its mouth open, the tiger leaps over its back from behind, eating and biting the neck part of the pig, the performance technique is as cute as an animation silhouette, revealing the cruelty of the victor to the loser.
A piece of "tiger and bull fighting copper buckle ornament" unearthed in Jinning Shizhai Mountain is slightly different, originally the king of the beasts - the tiger should have the absolute upper hand in the fight with the cow, the relatively weak cow is always hunted by the fierce tiger, and in this buckle, the bull that Nono admits to life is unusual, it is not willing to accept the fate of failure, and fights with the tiger with fearless courage. Although the cunning tiger drilled under the ox's belly and tore the ox's abdominal cavity with its sharp claws, the ox also pierced the tiger's body with its sharp horns, and both sides were injured and the jade was burned. This scene of the weak struggling to resist in the face of the haze of fate is full of tragic and exciting atmosphere, with a lofty tragic beauty, which makes people move and even triggers associations with some similar phenomena in human society.
As a symbol of power, status and wealth of the Dian Kingdom, the shell vessel is of course indispensable to the figure of "tiger and bull fighting". A corset-shaped cylindrical shell vessel excavated from Shizhai Mountain in Jinning is very special. The device is a tiger ear tunic, and the lower four tiger claws are the instrument feet. In the middle of the lid is a leafless tree, with two monkeys and two birds on the branches, under the tree is a terrifying fight between two bulls and one tiger, and the ear of the shell container is also composed of two roaring tigers. On the cover of the vessel, a tiger ran around the tree, its left hind leg had been pierced by the giant horn of an ox, and the tiger only landed on its front paws and took off its hind legs. Apparently, the king of the beasts was at a disadvantage in the fight with the two bulls. Two monkeys in the tree, one hugging the tree, the other monkey half standing, looking around and trying to escape, two birds under the cruel and murderous urge, flapping their wings and fleeing the scene... The lid of the shell container is frozen in the moment of the animal fight scene, showing us the wonderful process of the tiger and bull fight, and foreshadowing the end of the event. The craftsman uses dramatic scenes to reflect the connotation of human life, and the tiger, as the "king of the beasts", becomes a loser in the fight with the cow, which is also a kind of irony of real life. For the "heavy weapon of the country", it can be expressed in such a free and lively way, and so far it is only one case, which is extremely precious.
Another piece of "three tigers back cow bronze buckle ornament" unearthed in Jinning Shizhai Mountain - an adult tiger carrying a captured peak cow, striding home, next to it there are two childish and cute little tigers around the knees, it seems to be proud of his father's bravery, but also covet the food he will enjoy. This ingenious conception and anthropomorphic expression create a strong harmonious and warm family atmosphere that is not available elsewhere.
Bronze short swords can fight tigers
Tiger worship has a long history in China, and the motifs of clams and dragons and tigers have been found in Tomb No. 45 in the Xishuipo site in Puyang, Henan, more than 6,000 years ago.
The image of the tiger can be said to be everywhere in the Dian culture, and the figure of the tiger appears in the artifacts related to production, life, war, and sacrifice, and the Dian people hunt tigers, fight tigers, tie tigers, and sacrifice tigers, forming a relatively complete set of "tiger culture". It is particularly worth mentioning that as early as 2,000 years ago, the Dian people already had the entertainment activities of "fighting tigers", which is very similar to the custom of "fighting beasts" in ancient Rome.
A four-person tiger hunting clasp collected by Li Jiashan in Jiangchuan records an incident of a Dianhu hunting more than 2,000 years ago. In the buckle ornament, 3 people are holding the tiger's back, looking briskly, looking ahead, obviously the winner of the tiger hunting, while the other person falls to the ground on his side and has been killed by the tiger's mouth. What the author wants to show is that one person died in the process of hunting the tiger, and the remaining three people finally won. Two events that occurred at different times are frozen on a clasp, in which the triumph of the victor is portrayed, and at the same time the tragic fate of the loser on the verge of death is shaped. From the tiger wounding the man to the final being subdued, the two scenes are cleverly unified in a single buckle, and two hounds also "contribute" to the "tiger hunting".
A carved bronze sword has been unearthed from Shizhai Mountain in Jinning, and the pattern on it shows a wonderful scene of the Dian people's "fighting beasts". On both sides of the blade of the bronze sword is carved a Dian man holding a short sword to fight a tiger monster with a head like an otter,away, and a monkey's front paws drag the beast's tail, opening its mouth to devour. The monster is no different from a tiger from the head and neck down, has claws, wears striped tabby, and has a long tail, but the pattern above the head and neck is changed to a tiger-shaped strip and a dotted shape, with a slender rounded head, small ears, and a prominent snout, similar to an otter. Is the Dian people describing to us a monster that once existed, but has long been extinct? Or maybe they're just imagined "tigers" in witchcraft thinking.
Li Jiashan's other "Warring States Bound Tiger Character Handle Bronze Sword" provides us with evidence that the Dian people fought tigers and tied tigers. When the sword was unearthed, it was named "spear", but because it could not be equipped with a handle, it was renamed "sword". The hilt of the sword has a relief pattern on one side, the upper end is a man who successfully binds the tiger, holding a rope to make a victory (the original report is a thorny tiger), and below there are three people using a rope to tie the tiger, close to the blade of the sword, a human tiger fighting, and one person being swallowed by the tiger. Although the relief on the handle of the bronze sword is small in size, and the tigers and figures are only a few millimeters in size, the details are vivid, which is a masterpiece of lost wax casting, and its content is more proof that the Dian people have the custom of "fighting tigers" and "binding tigers".
The Dian people raise tigers and worship pillars
The Dian people not only "fight tigers" for fun, but also raise fierce tigers.
On the lid of the "Curse of the Copper Shell Vessel" excavated from Shizhai Mountain in Jinning, there is a Dian man sitting on the edge of the lid, next to him is a tiger tied to a low pillar, the rope wraps around the tiger's neck and is tied to the pillar, the tiger's right forefoot is raised, and there is a dead dog in front of it that serves as its food. There was another man to the right of the Dian people, with a leopard tied to a low pillar next to him. The "Curse of the League Copper Shell Vessel" shows the important occasion of the Dian people's sacrifice, and on the occasion of the sacrifice assembly, people also take the opportunity to communicate with each other and achieve the exchange and circulation of goods. Tigers and leopards are the objects of trade of the Dian people here, and there are also peacock breeders on the side. This is probably the earliest "animal market".
There is a column on the cover of the "Cursed Copper Shell Vessel", and the top of the pillar originally had a tiger, but unfortunately it has been mutilated, but the cover of the "Copper Shell Vessel for Killing Sacrifice Pillars" excavated from the same place completely shows us the specific contents of the Dian people's worship of the tiger and the sacrifice of the tiger. There is a pillar in the center of the lid of the shell vessel, and at the top of the column stands a tiger, and the column body is surrounded by a python, and the pillar has a monster circling like a crocodile or a giant salamander. This is an important scene of the Dian sacrifice, and the craftsmen recorded it with the ingenious method of lost wax, providing us with the most authentic "historical materials" for studying Dian culture. On the lid of this shell vessel, a Dian noblewoman is presiding over a sacrifice, most likely related to spring plowing. The location of the sacrifice is the "pillar" as the core, around the pillar, the Dian people carry out sacrifices, trade, entertainment, punishment of prisoners and other activities, quite similar to the "rushing street" in some areas of modern Yunnan. In places of religious worship, the columns often represent "the ladder of communication between man and God." At the same time, it is also a gauge used by the ancients to judge the time and direction.
Column worship is widespread throughout the world. In ancient times, people worshipped out of fear of the gods and performed a series of ritual acts. But god is illusory, so the lofty peaks and majestic trees are considered to be bridges between gods and people because they are close to the "sky", resulting in mountain worship and tree worship. With the development of human society from large and mixed residences to small settlements, the "sacred mountain" and "sacred tree" are no longer available everywhere, so the use of new alternatives has prompted the worship of "sacred pillars" to come into being. In other words, "the sacrificial pillar is the sacrificial tree, and the sacrificial tree is the sacrificial god", and in ancient times, the gods, the sacred mountains, the sacred trees, and the sacred pillars were all one.
The Serpent of the Pillar clearly marks the "sacredness" of the column. In the ancient myths and legends of the mainland, snakes are often associated with "gods", sacred mountains, imperial tombs, etc. have snake arch guards, and snake operators are "gods". The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Zhongshan Classic records: "The Mountain of Fufu ... God dwells in the son, and his body is like a man and his hands are with two serpents. The "god of the snake" in the story of "Yugong Moving The Mountain" may also come from this. The salamander pattern of the pillar is similar to the image of the Yellow Emperor in myths and legends, "with a snake's body on the face of a human face and a crossed tail on the head", indicating that this sacrificial pillar also has the divinity of the god of land and the god of water.
The tiger at the top of the "Copper Shell Vessel of the Killing Sacrifice Pillar" has its head cocked and tail, and the tiger's mouth is wide open and roaring, and it looks mighty and powerful, and it is in the highest position, so it also has a special position in the entire sacrifice. It is the god of death and the symbol of the god of life. It is recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Great Wilderness of the West that the image of the Queen Mother of the West is "leopard tail, tiger teeth, wen and tail, cave dweller, and good whistle", and its original form is also a tiger. The Queen Mother of the West is the god of death of "the power of the heavens and the five cruelties", and the "medicine of immortality" is a symbol of life, which also gave birth to the beautiful legend of Chang'e Running Moon - "Yi please the medicine of immortality to the West Queen Mother, and the sister-in-law steals to run the moon, and there is no way to continue." "In the sacrifices of the Dian Kingdom, the image of the tiger god was sculpted in order to seek his shelter for the dead and give the dead new life. The wizards on the copper drums of the Dian Kingdom also have the image of dancing in tiger skin and leopard skin, which shows the prevalence of tiger worship in the Dian Kingdom.
In the body of the tiger, the complex emotions of the ancient Dian people are pinned on it -- both fearing its ferocity and talking about the discoloration of the tiger, but also hoping to be as brave and invincible as a tiger, and the tiger and tiger are mighty; not only as a god of death and life, but also as the object of "cultivation" and trading; both worshipping the authority of the king of the mountains and forests, and fearlessly fighting with it for life and death... In the many contradictions of love, hate and reverence, the ancient Dian "tiger culture" has been endless, passed down for thousands of years, and has become an important part of China's excellent traditional culture. (Fan Haitao/Author: Yunnan Provincial Museum/Courtesy photo)