In 1978, two kilometers west of Suizhou City in Hubei Province, a shocking early Warring States tomb was discovered, and the owner of the tomb was the famous Zeng Houyi.
Archaeologists extracted more than 15,400 precious cultural relics of various types from the tomb of Zeng Houyi, including a complete set of "ZengHouyi chimes", which caused a sensation in the archaeological academic community.
However, among the more than 15,000 cultural relics, there are 173 strangely shaped eyeball cultural relics. It is not the first time that experts have found these strange styles and incompatible with the cultural relics of the same period from the tombs of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
So, is this eye-like artifact locally produced? Why has it become a luxury that princes and nobles are sought after?
The scientific name of this eye artifact is "Dragonfly Eyeball", also known as "Dragonfly Eye".
Dragonfly eyeballs first appeared in ancient Egypt from 1400 BC to 1350 BC.
From the shape of the utensils, it resembles dragonfly eyes, and the shape is either raised or concave, and the color is also very rich and full.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the dragonfly eyeballs native to ancient Egypt were introduced to the Western Regions, and from the late Spring and Autumn to the early years of the Warring States, many princes used the dragonfly eyeballs as utensils to play with.
For example, when Zeng Houyi and Zhao Qing were buried, they brought as few as a dozen and more than a hundred dragonfly eyeballs with them. It can be seen that dragonfly eyeballs should be rare at that time.
After talking about the birthplace of dragonfly eyeballs and when they were introduced to China, let's focus on the analysis, why are dragonfly eyeballs so loved by nobles?
First, the eye is regarded as a sacred symbol both in ancient Egypt and in the history of Chinese culture.
To put it more colloquially, the eyeball represents a sacred symbol of religious superstition.
After the West was introduced to China, it was given other emotional colors by the rulers. According to the analysis of archaeologists, after the dragonfly eyeball was introduced to China, it has become a relatively common thing to ward off evil spirits.
From the Warring States to the Western Han Dynasty, dragonfly eyeballs represented the existence of a special beauty.
Huainanzi. Meditation: "For example, the Pearl of Suihou and the Bi of the Heshi Clan are rich for those who gain, and those who lose are poor."
Erya. Shi Di: "The beauty of the northwest, there is kun xu lin, lang yue yan" .
From the above historical records, it can be seen that during the Warring States and Western Han Dynasties, the dragonfly eyeballs were precious enough to be comparable to gold and jade.
And at that time, Chinese craftsmen used lead oxide and potassium oxide to produce glass-like glass products, and with glass, dragonfly eyeballs could take root and sprout in the land of China.
In ancient times, products such as glass and glass were much more valuable than gold of the same weight. Mainly because of the dragonfly eyeballs, which are imported from the West, because of their strange shape, which is very different from the inherent cultural beliefs of the Central Plains.
In addition, during the Spring and Autumn Period, craftsmen had mastered the method of making glass, and this rather strange dragonfly eyeball became a luxury product used by princes and nobles in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to compare their wealth and identity with each other.
According to Western history, in the 1960s, Greece unearthed a dragonfly eyeball that dates back more than 3,000 years.
This dragonfly eyeball is beautifully shaped, and the number of eye decoration layers is very large,
Yes
Blue and white are composed of two layers of glass.
In addition, the color and shape of the dragonfly eyeballs found in Iran and Egypt are different from those found in ancient Greece. The dragonfly eyeballs unearthed in China are different from those in the West.
Therefore, the symbolic meaning is very different.
Perhaps speaking of this, many friends will find it strange: why do archaeologists say that these cultural relics are imported from the West, and what basis do experts have?
"On Salt and Iron": "The sable fox, the sable fox, the sturgeon, is filled in the inner house, and the jade, coral, and glass salt are the treasures of the country."
Book of Han. Tales of the Western Regions: "The Kingdom of The Emperor ... go out...... Bi Displaced".
Book of Han. Geography Chronicle: "Since the kingdom of Gandulu, the ship line can be more than February, and there are Yellow Branches ... It has been dedicated since Emperor Wu.
It can be clearly concluded from various Han Dynasty classics that the most primitive glass appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was not until the late Spring and Autumn Period to the early years of the Warring States period that it began to be popularized.
Therefore, in the ancient books before the Western Han Dynasty, there are few written records about glass and glass. The key to the success of Chinese craftsmen in developing glass is the use of lead oxide and barium as co-solvents.
This kind of glass products could only be introduced to the mainland from the West in the late Spring and Autumn period and the early years of the Warring States period, because at that time, Chinese began to master the craft of making glass.
Moreover, many relevant laboratories in China use advanced science and technology to conduct infrared detection of dragonfly eyeballs unearthed in China.
The result of the detection is that most of the dragonfly eyeballs in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are made of glass as the main material, and a few are made of pottery tires. Pottery tires are also a unique way of firing utensils in the mainland.
Whether it is a dragonfly eyeball made of glass or a pottery dragonfly eyeball, its symbolic significance is not much different.
Most of the dragonfly eyeballs produced in China are oval in shape, and the shape is not like that of the West, which is mostly decorated with protrusions.
For example, the dragonfly eyeballs in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, almost every one of them has many cylindrical mesh dots on the body, which are usually arranged in an intersected manner. Coupled with the collision and blending of colors, the dragonfly eyeballs of China's local estate are quite oriental.
In general, dragonfly eyeballs are a small object that nobles all over the world liked to play with a thousand years ago.
It is also because this artifact has been artificially attached too many religious superstitions that the dragonfly eyeball has become the exclusive object of the upper class.
Most of the above detailed analysis of dragonfly eyeballs is the conclusion reached by the author through a book of "Spring and Autumn Warring States", of course, I also found a lot of reference materials from other historical materials.
The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are the two most important eras in Chinese history. Only from the origin, duration and development process of the dragonfly eyeball, it can be seen that during the Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese and Western cultures have begun to slowly integrate.
References: Book of Han, Huainanzi