In the period of feudal society, the ancients were very superstitious, they believed that after death, they could still enjoy the glory and wealth of the present world, and because of this, "thick burial" appeared. When thick burials appeared, a new profession was born – tomb robbing. In the 1970s, cultural relics experts unearthed a piece of Yuan Dynasty porcelain from a Ming dynasty tomb, but why was this porcelain discarded by tomb robbers? The real reason is not simple.
In the 1970s, the eastern suburbs of Bengbu City, Anhui Province, were to carry out traffic construction, and after the relevant departments had studied it, they decided to carry out protective excavations of Tanghe Tomb. Prior to this, cultural relics experts had already inspected the tomb, and they suspected that the tomb had been patronized by tomb robbers. When the experts entered the tomb, they saw the traces left by the tomb robbers.
According to experts, the tomb was a mess and was badly damaged. Experts have no way of knowing what the tomb robbers took with them, because there is no way to find out. While cleaning up the soup and the tomb, an expert found a porcelain jar in the corner of the wall, the jar was covered with dust and looked very cheap, but no one expected that a seemingly ordinary porcelain bottle was a precious cultural relic.
When this artifact was cleaned up, it revealed its original appearance, with a luxurious mouth, straight neck, oblique shoulders, a pair of double animal face ears on the shoulders, and six layers of patterns on the body, ripples, lotus petals, miscellaneous treasures, flowers, Dudan, and curly grass. According to the style of porcelain, experts named it "blue and white double animal ear large pot".
After professional appraisal, experts conservatively estimated that the blue and white double animal ear jar is worth three hundred million. Such a precious cultural relic, why did the tomb robbers not take it away? Xiaobian is about to decrypt it for you.
In 1990, a history professor went to the antique market. At a porcelain shop, he found an inconspicuous underglaze water bowl with only a few blue paintings on it, and the whole was predominantly white, and out of curiosity, the professor bought it. After expert identification, this water cup under the glaze of the Yuan Dynasty is actually an old ancestor of blue and white porcelain.
In the British Museum, we can see a pair of Yuan Dynasty Daweid vases, but on closer inspection, there are some differences between the two vases, one of which is of better quality and the other of which is of poorer quality.
Through these two cultural relics, we can know the reason why the blue and white double animal ear jar was ignored, the technology of firing blue and white porcelain in the Yuan Dynasty was not mature enough, and the quality of porcelain burning depends on the luck of the craftsmen themselves. Grave robbers have a certain experience in treasure hunting, and when they see items of poor quality, they will definitely abandon them.
The large jar of blue and white double animal ears found in the soup and tomb is dark in color, and the blue and white porcelain is not exquisitely painted, and the production is relatively rough. These three shortcomings appear on an artifact, and the tomb robber does not look at it at all, and it is reasonable to discard it. However, what is unexpected is that it is definitely a cultural relic of the ancestral level of blue and white porcelain in the Yuan Dynasty.
In fact, the tomb robber is stupid enough, the blue and white double animal ear jar was found in the tanghe tomb, tanghe is the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, the status is very noble, he has no reason to use a bargain as a funeral product.
Whether it is from the production method or the analysis of the ownership of the items, the blue and white double animal ear jar is definitely a rare historical and precious cultural relic. In archaeological excavations, experts will unearth a large number of cultural relics, but the value of cultural relics is not determined by exquisite or not exquisite, but its historical value. The "very rough" cultural relics unearthed by primitive societies have high historical research value because they can fill in the gaps in history.
Nowadays, the "Blue and White Double Animal Ear Jar" is collected in the Bengbu Museum, if you are interested in it, you can take advantage of the holiday to take a look, it conveys not only the charm of the blue and white porcelain itself, but also the history and culture of the Yuan Dynasty.