Qianlong was the sixth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and under the influence of his grandfather and father, Qianlong was very fond of collecting different kinds of precious cultural relics. Among Qianlong's many collections, there is a mysterious jade, Qianlong believes that it is a bowl holder, but this is not the case, what is its function? Today, Xiaobian will reveal the secret to you:
The British Museum houses 8 million artifacts, most of which are not on display due to limited space. When visiting this museum, many visitors will be attracted by a piece of jade. Through the explanation of the tour guide, we learned that the owner of this jade is Qianlong.
In 1790, Qianlong was about to abdicate, but he still held the real power in his hands, Qianlong liked to study his collection of items in his daily life, and often ordered eunuchs to take out some cultural relics, admire them and then put them back in their original places.
Among the many precious items, there is a jade object with a thickness of 1 cm and a diameter of 15.5 cm. From the overall shape, its shape is indeed weird. After carefully observing the "strange" jade, Qianlong came to a different conclusion, and he suspected that the object was a jade bowl holder. Qianlong collected many pieces of Song Dynasty porcelain, and the precious porcelain bowl would be placed on the corresponding bowl holder, which was very similar to the shape of the Song Dynasty bowl holder, and the porcelain bowl could be placed in the middle, and a part of it was protruding.
In order to prove that the conjecture was correct, Qianlong specially ordered the craftsman to engrave his own inscription poem on it, which consisted of 26 lines, each line of 5 words, evenly distributed on the jade. In this poem, Qianlong introduces his exploration of the use of jade bowl holders and gives positive results, which are definitely bowl holders.
Qianlong also explained: "In the three generations of Yuxu, the bowl is really harmonious. The bowl holder is not separated, only one is left. Zitozi ancient jade, jade bowl don't be obedient for a long time. The implication of this sentence is that this jade is definitely a bowl holder, but now the bowl is gone, leaving only a bowl holder, and I should reconfigure it. Therefore, Qianlong selected a kiln white glaze bowl to put on the jade bowl holder. From the current point of view, Qianlong wants to take a mix-and-match style, and we can't understand his aesthetic.
When the "Qianlong Inscription Poem Yubi" was put into the museum, relevant experts studied it. It should be a piece of jade. During the feudal society, yubi was a ceremonial vessel, it was a kind of jade with a flat shape with a perforation in the center, such as a piece of Heshibi became a treasure among the population, and could even be used to exchange for the city.
This jade bi was made in 1500 BC and is an object from the Shang Dynasty. By flipping through the relevant materials, we can know that there were no "jade bowl" shaped utensils in the Shang Dynasty, that is, there was no possibility of bowl holders, which directly proved that Qianlong's conjecture was wrong.
In modern society, we often find some tourists, when traveling, have uncivilized behavior, they will scribble on the walls of scenic spots, trying to leave their own unique marks, but this behavior is to destroy. So, qianlong's inscription on the jade bi is also destroying cultural relics?
To answer this question, we need to clarify one thing. That is the true value of this jade bi.
In the Shang Dynasty, jade bi was a common ceremonial vessel, when the number of an object increased, its collection value would decrease, and Qianlong inscribed poems on the shang dynasty jade bi, making this jade bi a unique item. From the perspective of protecting cultural relics, Qianlong is not destroying, but protecting.
Today, the "Qianlong Inscription Poem Yubi" is collected in the British Museum, and the white glazed bowl of the Ding kiln that Qianlong supported it was placed in the Palace Museum in Beijing. If you are interested in these two cultural relics, you can take advantage of the holidays to take a look at them and experience their unique charm up close.