Large bronze mask
People's Daily Beijing, February 15 (Wei Yanxing) On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Tiger, the bronze mask from Sanxingdui made a stunning appearance, attracting the attention of the national audience. On February 15th, the bronze mask "Homecoming Reunion" was officially exhibited for the first time in the Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Hall of Sanxingdui Museum, sending "Easter eggs" to the Lantern Festival exhibition for the majority of tourists.
Tourists are taking a closer look at the large bronze mask
Zhu Yarong, director of the Planning and Construction Department of the Sanxingdui Museum Scenic Area Management Committee, said that in order to respond to the exhibition needs of the masses, the Sanxingdui Museum mobilized professional logistics and exhibition companies, specially customized the display cabinets, adjusted the exhibition line of the exhibition hall, and finally ensured that the bronze masks could meet with the public during the Lantern Festival. "This fully reflects the sanxingdui site's concept of 'sharing the fruits of protection for everyone' and the sanxingdui museum's 'people-oriented' concept of running the museum." Zhu Yarong said.
Staff are reinforcing large bronze masks
According to reports, the bronze mask is 131cm wide, 71cm high, 66cm deep, and weighs 131 kilograms, which is the largest and well-preserved large bronze mask known to have been excavated from the Sanxingdui site. Its wide forehead, angular edges, smooth eyebrows, eyes, lips and other lines, all protruding from the face, thick and long eyebrows as a raised shape, the two sides of the mask up and down and in the front of the forehead in the square perforation, may be used for fixed purposes. The bronze mask is a typical artifact of the Sanxingdui culture, dating back more than 3,000 years, reflecting the understanding and thinking of the ancient Shu ancestors on the natural things and the world of gods and gods.
On June 23, 2021, the mask was extracted from the pit. Archaeologists and cultural relics conservators analyzed and studied the casting process of the bronze mask and believed that its production was first cast and formed, and it was cast by the face, the back of the cheek, the eyes, the ears and other parts, and then combined into one. Silk textile residues with warp and weft tissue were also found in the right eyebrow, right eyeball, and right corner of the eye. The combination of silk and masks shows the meaning of sacred sacrifice.
In the next step, Sanxingdui Museum will also further carry out the restoration and research of bronze masks with the first-class technical team in the United Nations, and share more research results on the protection of Sanxingdui cultural relics with the public through auxiliary display methods such as excavation, restoration and introduction videos, so that the general public can more deeply understand the bronze culture of Sanxingdui and appreciate the brilliant and colorful ancient Chinese bronze civilization.
(The pictures in this article are provided by Sanxingdui Museum)