In Shaanxi Hanzhong Chenggu County Museum there is a Bronze Bottle of the Shang Dynasty, although this bronze bottle is somewhat broken, but its production process is complicated, it is a bronze art masterpiece, it is the "treasure of the town hall" of the GuXian Museum in Hanzhong City, Shaanxi. Speaking of the origin of this bronze bottle, there is also a legendary little story.
Pick up the scrap and pick up the bronze jar
Wu Jingyuan, a 66-year-old man in Wulangmiao Town, Chenggu County, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, rides a tricycle every day to pick up waste products every day due to his family's poverty.
On October 28, 2014, Wu Jingyuan rode his tricycle to the outskirts of the city to collect waste, and when he returned home and passed by an abandoned high-speed rail construction site, Wu Jingyuan stopped the tricycle and walked to the construction site to pick up waste. As he walked, he searched the ground with his eyes for scraps that could be recycled for sale, and after picking up a few empty mineral water bottles, Wu Jingyuan walked to the mound where the backfilled roadbed was, and he looked at the mound and found that there was a slightly blackened thing exposed on the slope of the mound.
"Could it be scrap iron?" Wu Jing pondered in the distance as he climbed up to the mound.
During the construction of the construction site, some scrap iron was often buried in the soil, and Wu Jingyuan used to dig scrap iron from the soil. When he climbed up the slope of the mound and came to the "scrap iron" with the exposed corner, he found that the "scrap iron" seemed to be different from the usual scrap iron, and from the exposed part of the ground, the "scrap iron" seemed to be a jar.
Wu Jing didn't think much of it, he got tools from the tricycle and began to dig up. I didn't expect that the "scrap iron" was getting bigger and bigger, and finally Wu Jingyuan dug out a "bronze jar" weighing 20 kilograms from the mound. After wiping away the dirt on the surface of the "bronze jar", Wu Jingyuan found that the appearance of the jar was engraved with exquisite patterns.
Sell or turn it in
Chenggu County, Hanzhong, Shaanxi Is a famous historical city with many cultural relics and monuments. Due to the large number of local monuments, the local relevant departments have also done a good job in publicizing the protection of cultural relics. Although Wu Jingyuan didn't have much culture, after seeing the "bronze jar" with exquisite patterns, he couldn't help but think of a thought in his mind: "Is this thing a treasure?" ”
Thinking of this, Wu Jingyuan moved the "bronze jar" to his tricycle and pulled it home. After neighbors and villagers in the same village heard the news that Wu Jingyuan had picked up a "treasure", they all ran to his house to watch the liveliness. The villagers talked about the "bronze jar" he dug out, and some cultured and knowledgeable villagers told Wu Jingyuan with great certainty that the "bronze jar" he dug up was a cultural relic, worth a lot of money. Some villagers suggested that Wu Jingyuan sell it, and some villagers advised Wu Jingyuan not to sell it privately, but to go to jail for selling cultural relics...
Wu Jingyuan is a well-known poor family, his wife is half dead, his son and daughter-in-law work in other places for many years, and there is a 5-year-old granddaughter in the family who needs his care. After picking up the treasure, Wu Jingyuan also thought about selling the treasure for some money to improve family life, but thinking about it, Wu Jingyuan felt that it was inappropriate to sell it privately, since the "bronze jar" was a cultural relic, or should it be handed over to the state, so that he could feel at ease.
Therefore, Wu Jingyuan found the staff of the town cultural center and told them about the situation of digging up the "bronze jar". The staff of the cultural center attached great importance to Wu Jingyuan's report after listening to it, and they immediately contacted the staff of the Chenggu County Museum and went to Wu Jingyuan's home together to do the appraisal.
Shang Dynasty bronze bottle
After the museum experts rushed to Wu Jingyuan's house, they saw the bronze ware placed in the courtyard at a glance. After carefully inspecting the "bronze jar", the expert excitedly told Wu Jingyuan: "This thing you dug up is a treasure, and it was initially identified as a bronze bottle of the Shang Dynasty." ”
Let's take a look at this bronze bottle together: this bronze bottle is a round-mouthed round vessel, its diameter is 41 cm, its height is 38 cm (the bottle foot is damaged), and its weight is 10 kg. The round belly of the bronze bottle is engraved with beautiful and exquisite food patterns, and the body of the bottle is carved with three water beasts, each of which has a lifelike water bird cast on its horns. The bronze bottle is exquisitely crafted, and the only fly in the ointment is that there is a large hole in the foot of the bottle, which may have been damaged when the bulldozer bulldozed, but the broken fragments are nowhere to be found.
Bottle is a kind of wine container in ancient mainland China, the diameter of the bottle in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties is relatively large, and the shape of the vessel is mostly open, long neck and round abdomen. The bronze bottle found in Chenggu is completely in line with the characteristics of the Shang Zhou bronze bottle from the aspects of the shape and structure, and this bronze bottle is finely made and is a fine product in the bronze ware of the Shang Dynasty. According to expert identification, this bronze bottle is a cultural relic of the same period as another bronze bottle found in Baoshan Town, Chenggu County in 1964, dating from the end of the Shang Dynasty, which has a history of more than 3600 years.
epilogue
In view of Wu Jingyuan's discovery and initiative to hand over precious cultural relics to the state, the Cultural Relics Bureau decided to give Wu Jingyuan spiritual and material rewards after research. Later, the Chenggu County Cultural Relics Bureau awarded Wu Jingyuan an honorary certificate and rewarded him with 3,000 yuan in cash. Although this bonus was a dime a dozen compared to the actual value of the bronze bottle, Wu Jingyuan was already quite satisfied. After all, when he dug this bronze bottle, he dug it as scrap iron, and now, this bronze bottle has not only not been buried, but has found the best home, and he is not busy in vain.
The discovery of this Shang Dynasty bronze bottle provides valuable physical information for experts to study the development of Shang Dynasty bronzes and the manufacturing process of bronzes at that time. At present, this Shang Dynasty bronze bottle is collected in the Chenggu County Museum of Hanzhong City, which is the "treasure of the town hall" of the museum.