From the Forbidden City Tibetan tiger-shaped porcelain pillow to see the connotation of the ancient "big cat"
(This article was published in the 8th edition of Science and Technology Daily on March 3, 2022, with modifications)
2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the traditional Chinese zodiac culture of the mainland. The Palace Museum has a Collection of Jin Dynasty Tiger-shaped Pillows (Figure 1), which is a porcelain pillow in the shape of a Crouching Tiger. The tiger's head was folded on its front paws, its eyes were staring, and its lips were open and teeth were exposed. The tiger is strong and strong, with brown and black tiger stripes painted on it. The tiger's back is flat and used to make a pillow surface, on which the Lutang bird pattern is painted. The tiger's tail curls up and melts into the tiger's body. Porcelain pillows are generally made of porcelain stone or marble, such as the Ming Dynasty literary scholar Tu Long's "Examination Plate Yushi" Volume IV contains: "Magnetic (porcelain) stone, if there is no large piece, with the broken one into a pillow surface, the lower wood inlaid into a pillow", "There is also a marble inlay is also good". Porcelain pillows have the function of eye-catching, cooling and cooling off, which was more popular during the Tang and Song dynasties and was loved by emperors. For example, the fifth volume of the Tao Shu written by the Qing Dynasty official Zhu Yan contains that "those who benefit the eyes are not as good as porcelain stones as pillows, but they are old and not faint, and they are used much in the palace of Emperor Ning (Emperor Zhao Kuo of the Southern Song Dynasty)." The use of the image of the tiger as a pillow was at least in the Shang Dynasty. According to volume VII of the Book of Collected Remains written by the former Qin writer Wang Jia, in the second year of the Xianxi Dynasty (265) of the Wei Dynasty, Emperor Yuan of Wei found a jade tiger-shaped pillow in the palace and deduced that it was a relic used by the King of Shang and Daji. The Forbidden City hides tiger-shaped porcelain pillows, which contain cultural connotations such as warding off evil spirits, authority, and worship.
Figure 1 Yellow-brown glazed painted tiger pillow (gold) in the Forbidden City
From the perspective of warding off evil spirits, in ancient times, due to the backwardness of productive forces, it was difficult for people to scientifically understand the laws of natural operation and resist various disasters, and many subjectively believed that evil charms were the scourges that created diseases, and pinned their desire to eliminate disasters and drive away evil spirits on a specific object, and the tiger image was one of the evil things. The Eastern Han Dynasty thinker Wang Chong's "Treatise on Balance" in the "Twenty-second Book of Ghosts" quotes the story of "tiger eating ghosts" in the ancient book of Mountains and Seas of the Pre-Qin Dynasty: In ancient Times, there was Dushuo Mountain in the East China Sea, and there were various demons and ghosts in the mountains, and the Heavenly Emperor sent the gods and goddesses to guard the town, and bound the ghosts of harming people with reeds (ropes woven of reed grass) and fed tigers. The story shows that the tiger is the nemesis of the "ghost". The Eastern Han Dynasty scholar Ying Shao wrote the "Customs and Customs", in which the "Eighth Ritual" further explains the tiger's function of warding off evil spirits: "The tiger, the yang thing, the chief of a hundred beasts, can fight and defeat sharp, eat ghosts and ghosts." According to the "Sequel Volume IV" of the Tang Dynasty novelist Duan Chengshi's "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks", if you draw a tiger's head on the door and write the word "聻", you can "breathe malaria and malaria (get rid of the disease)". The Song Dynasty philologist Han Daozhao wrote the "Five-Tone Collection rhyme", and its volume VII explains the meaning of the word "聻", that is, the ghost becomes 聻 after death, and the ghost is afraid of the yun. Therefore, if you write this word on the door, you can deter the ghosts. The Ming Dynasty pharmacist Teng Hong's "Shennong Benjing Huitong", the eighth volume of which contains "the tiger's head as a pillow, to ward off demons", believes that the pillow is made into the shape of a tiger's head, which can avoid the invasion of demons. It can be seen from the above that the image of the tiger made of the pillow is an important way for the ancients to eliminate disasters and drive away evil spirits.
From the perspective of authority, the tiger is known as the "king of the hundred beasts" because of its strong physique and brave image. The pre-Qin scholarly work "Guan Zi", of which the twentieth volume contains "the tiger and leopard, the fierce one of the beasts, dwelling in the deep forest and the vast zeal, then people fear its might and carry it", that is, the tiger and leopard because of its might, so the ancients had a reverence for it. Compared with other animal figures, tiger-related titles, totems and other content are more used by the ancients. According to the "Book of Han" (Book 99 Below), the nine fierce generals under the new emperor Wang Mang were all given the name of "Tiger" and collectively known as the "Nine Tigers". Ancient emperors dispatched soldiers to make soldiers in the shape of tigers, known as "tiger symbols" (Figure 2). The tiger charm is divided into two halves, with the emperor and the general holding half each, and when the two tigers are matched and used, the bearer of the charm can obtain military power. In ancient times, the tiger-shaped banner was used as a command signal, such as the seventh volume of the "Interpretation of names" written by the Eastern Han Dynasty scholar Liu Xi, which contains "The bear and the tiger are the banners, built by military generals, like its fierce tigers, and the people are also under it." "In ancient mythology, the goddess Xi Wangmu, who was in charge of the heavenly calamities, was depicted in the Han Dynasty portrait bricks, sitting on the dragon and tiger seat to show the supreme status. As can be seen from the above, the ancients chose the shape of the tiger to make pillows, which can reflect the authority of the tiger as a beast.
Figure 2 The Forbidden City Hides the Tiger Charm (Warring States)
The tiger-shaped pillow also contains the ancient people's worship of the tiger image. The pre-Qin classic "Zhou Yi" volume VII of the "Ge Gua No. 49" contains "adult tiger change, not possessed", which compares the image of the saintly man to carry out the reform, with the temperament of a fierce tiger. The "Second Book of the Western Mountains" of the Classic of Mountains and Seas describes the male god Lu Wu, who is in charge of the Nine Realms of Heaven, whose appearance characteristics are human face, tiger body, and tiger claws; while the appearance characteristics of the goddess West Queen Mother are "leopard tooth tiger tail"; the image of the tiger is given to the god of heaven. The "Astronomy" of the third volume of the Western Han Dynasty philosophical work "Huainanzi" believes that there is a divine beast guarding each of the four sides of the sky, of which the Western divine beast is a white tiger. Correspondingly, the ancients observed the celestial signs and connected the seven constellations (constellations) in the west, namely Kui, Lou, Stomach, Pleiades, Bi, Yuan, and Ginseng, into the shape of a tiger to show that the "White Tiger" was guarding the West. The Eastern Han Dynasty reference book work "Shuowen Jiezi", its "volume 5" contains: "Tiger, the king of mountains and beasts", that is, the tiger is honored with the title of "Jun". The "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by the Ming Dynasty physician Li Shizhen, in which the "Fifty-first Volume of the Beast Department" further explains the reason for this honorific title: the tiger has a strong and powerful appearance such as "like a cat and as big as an ox, a yellow black chapter, a sawtooth hook claw, a strong and pointed beard, a tongue as large as a chapter, and a barb", and has the deterrent power of "roaring like thunder, the wind is born, and the hundred beasts are terrified". From the above, it can be seen that ancient objects "imitate" the image and temperament of tigers (Figures 3-4), which is inseparable from the ancient people's worship of tigers. The tiger-shaped pillow, as the sleeping aid of the ancients, also contains the above connotations.
Figure 3 Forbidden City Hidden Yellow Satin Embroidered Tiger Head Pattern Small Clip Shoes (Qing)
Figure 4 Forbidden City Tibetan apricot yellow satin tiger head cotton hood (Qing)
In summary, the forbidden city hides a tiger-shaped porcelain pillow, which can reflect the ancients' desire to dispel disasters and drive away evil spirits and welcome good fortune through the image of the tiger. The rich cultural connotations it contains have become an important part of the traditional culture of the mainland.
(Author's information: Zhou Qian, Institute of Forbidden Studies, Palace Museum)