Four gods pattern jade carving paving head.
In order to better publicize the four gods' jade carving shops, the Maoling Museum installed imitations on the door of the exhibition hall.
The carving details of the four gods' jade carvings.
Visitors visit the four gods at the Maoling Museum.
Reporter Guo Shimengwen /photo
"Today, I have made a special trip to see the treasure of the town hall of the Maoling Museum- the four gods' jade carving shop heads." On March 7, Wang Juan, a tourist from Xi'an City, said excitedly.
According to the staff of Maoling Museum, the museum receives more than 500,000 visitors every year, and for most tourists, the national treasure-level cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty four gods and jade carvings are their preferred targets for visiting here.
According to statistics, there are 5244 pieces (groups) of cultural relics in the Maoling Museum, why can the four gods of jade carving become the treasure of the town hall? Recently, the reporter went to the museum to find out.
Four gods pattern jade carving paving head
Name: Four gods pattern jade carving shop head
Grade: National first-class cultural relics
Date of birth: Western Han Dynasty
Origin: Daowang Village, Nanwei Town, Xingping City
Registration time: 1975
Current address: Maoling Museum
A delicate jade carving technique
In front of the display cabinet with the head of the four gods' jade carvings, tourists from time to time issued a series of exclamations and picked up their mobile phones to take pictures. Its ingenious carvings are breathtaking even today.
The ornamental layout of the jade carving shop head is very peculiar: the asymmetrical pattern of the four gods is distributed on the symmetrical animal face pattern. On the front of the shop, the animal face pattern is in the center, the head of the beast has a rolled nose and opens its teeth, resembling a gluttony; the patterns of the four gods of green dragon, white tiger, suzaku and xuanwu carved on the side are also exquisite and very vivid - the right edge of the green dragon leaps, the upper left white tiger roars, the right inner side of the suzaku walks, and the lower left side of the turtle and snake intersect. The jade carving shop head adopts the process of circular carving, relief carving and line carving, which shows excellent three-dimensional effect as a whole.
Gong Ximin, a staff member of the Maoling Museum, told reporters that the shop head is the base of the animal head where the door knocker was placed in ancient China, most of which is made of metal, such as the copper shop head excavated from the Yanxiadu site in Yi County, Hebei Province, and the gilded copper shop head has also been excavated from the Western Han Tomb in Dabaotai, Beijing. The head of the four gods is 34.2 cm high, 35.6 cm wide, 14.7 cm thick and weighs 10.6 kg, and the overall shape is majestic and solemn, which is the largest, heaviest and most exquisite piece of Han Dynasty jade found so far. The most rare thing is that it is carved from a whole piece of jade.
How was this treasure discovered?
On July 19, 1975, when the villagers of Daochang Village (now Daowang Village) in the southern town of Xingping County (present-day Xingping City) were leveling the land about 1 kilometer southeast of the Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, they suddenly found two cultural relics superimposed on each other at a depth of about 70 centimeters underground, one of which was the four gods' jade carving shop head and the other was Liulibi. Villagers who found cultural relics felt very strange, so they took the cultural relics to find cultural relics experts. Wang Zhijie, then director of the Maoling Museum, still remembers the scene at that time: "When I saw such an exquisite jade carving shop, I couldn't believe my eyes. ”
After identification, experts found that the head of the shop was carved from a piece of apple green jade, and the jade was lustrous, dense and delicate. After comparing the data such as composition, color, appearance organization, specific gravity, and hardness, experts speculated that the first use of the four gods of jade carving was Lantian jade.
Although it has been buried in the soil for more than 2,000 years, the years have not faded its luster, and under the lighting of the exhibition hall, the four gods' jade carving shops are still lustrous, as if telling tourists about the glorious history of the Western Han Dynasty.
The rich connotation of the four gods
Wei Qiantao, deputy director of the Maoling Museum, has been working in the museum for nearly 20 years. "On the first day I arrived here, I began to ponder the meaning behind this jade carving." Wei Qiantao said.
In his opinion, a distinctive feature of the jade carving shop is the clever collection of four gods.
"The four gods, also known as the 'four elephants' or 'four spirit beasts', are the images used in ancient mainland astronomy to express the twenty-eight stars. In the Han Dynasty, the four elephants in the sky were moved to the ground, thus giving rise to the four specific images of green dragon, white tiger, suzaku and xuanwu. Carefully observe the four gods on the head of the jade carving shop: the green dragon body is healthy, the posture is flying, showing its majestic and strong characteristics; the white tiger has its head and tail held high, and its demeanor is like roaring, fully showing the body and fierce image of the king of the hundred beasts; the shape of the suzaku is somewhat similar to that of the phoenix, and the appearance is incomparably beautiful; the xuanwu is a combination of turtles and snakes, the turtle is crawling, and the snake body is naturally wrapped around the divine turtle. Wei Qiantao explained, "In the past, people agreed that the four gods defended the emperor in the human world. The jade carvings unearthed near the Mausoleum of Emperor Wudi of Han are decorated with four gods, and its nature and function are nothing more than to protect Emperor Wudi of Han. The entire jade carving shop integrates the four gods into one and transforms into a fierce-looking beast head, reflecting the specific development process of jade culture from the Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties, that is, from mysterious to concrete, from concept to practical. The four gods' jade carving shop is a well-deserved masterpiece at this stage. ”
Three more than 2,000 years of wind and rain baptism
"The head of the four gods' jade carving is made of Lantian jade. Today's Lantian County, during the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was located within the shanglin garden, that is, in the imperial gardens at that time. Therefore, it is very likely that the head of the Lantian jade material was used in the architecture of the Mao Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Wei Qiantao introduced, "This jade carving was excavated about 1 kilometer away from the tomb of Emperor Mao of the Han Dynasty, that is, near the outer city wall. The outer city wall has a city gate, so it is likely that this jade carving was on the city gate at that time. ”
However, this view is only speculation and has not been confirmed so far. After all, the Maoling Cemetery has experienced more than 2,000 years of wind and rain baptism, in the middle because of the change of dynasty, the impact of war, etc., its sealing soil, including the wall of the cemetery building, may have been seriously damaged, and it is not excluded that this shop head and even some other burial items were buried in the ground by others later. "Some experts have speculated that this jade carving may be an ornament on the tomb door of the Maoling Underground Palace, rather than used on the city gate, and its exact meaning is closely related to the primitive sorcery that communicates the gods of heaven and earth and the funerary customs of the Western Han Dynasty." Wei Qiantao explained.
In any case, just a piece of the shop on the door can be so exquisitely crafted, showing the unique decorative beauty and formal beauty of the Han Dynasty, so that the world can see the characteristics and cultural connotations of the Han Dynasty behind it. It is not difficult to imagine how magnificent the mausoleum architecture of the Han Wudi period was, and at the same time, it also reflects the degree of luxury of the feudal rulers of the Western Han Dynasty before and after their deaths.
In terms of the artistic value of handicrafts, the four gods of jade carving shops allow the world to see the rich imagination and exquisite ideas of the designers at that time and the aesthetic tastes of people in the Western Han Dynasty, which is of great artistic appreciation value, and also provides valuable physical materials for the study of the architectural history and the history of arts and crafts in the Han Dynasty. However, according to the use of the shop head, the four gods of jade carving shop head should have a pair. Unfortunately, only this one has been unearthed so far.
"Maybe in the near future, we will have new major discoveries in the protection of the Maoling Great Ruins - put together this pair of shop heads." Talking about the follow-up research work of the jade carving shop, Wei Qiantao was full of expectations.
Journalist's Note
Let more people participate in the protection of cultural relics
Guo Shimeng
Cultural relics carrying splendid civilization, inheriting history and culture, and maintaining the national spirit are the precious heritage left to us by our ancestors and the profound nourishment for strengthening the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. How to excavate and protect cultural relics, Maoling Museum has its own set of methods.
During the interview, the reporter learned that the four gods' jade carving shops were precious cultural relics that could be preserved because of the discovery of the masses, the protection of the masses, and the handing over of the masses. This is not an isolated case in the Maoling Museum, where many cultural relics were excavated and protected after the masses discovered and reported them in a timely manner.
The museum covers an area of 737 acres and currently has 107 full-time staff. "At the beginning of the museum, we deeply realized that it was impossible for museum staff to discover, protect and rescue cultural relics." Wei Qiantao, deputy director of the Maoling Museum, said.
In order to allow more people to participate in the protection of cultural relics, the Maoling Museum has not spared no less thought. At the beginning of the establishment of the museum, the staff insisted on carrying out cultural relics protection publicity from time to time, regardless of the cold and heat, and invited villagers to participate in the protection of cultural relics. After decades of perseverance, the results are obvious. "The work of the Maoling Museum has today's achievements, which is inseparable from the strong sense of cultural relics protection of the surrounding masses. A considerable part of the cultural relics in the museum are found by the local people in the production and life of leveling the land, digging tree pits, laying foundations, etc. These masses have lived here for generations, and under our active guidance, they have developed deep feelings for Maoling. The four gods' jade carvings were discovered by relying on the masses' sensitivity to the height of cultural relics. Wei Qiantao said with a smile, "Before, a villager wanted to dig a well in front of his home, report it to the cultural security unit at the first time, and then fight after getting affirmation." ”
In addition, Maoling Museum also actively cooperates with surrounding villages to develop part-time cultural security personnel. "Most of these civil security personnel are retired cadres and old party members, and they are the 'clairvoyance' and 'downwind ears' in our cultural security system." Once the masses find suspected cultural relics, they can contact them at the first time, and they will dock with us in time to ensure that important cultural relics are not underreported and damaged. Wei Qiantao introduced. At the same time, the museum has issued a number of incentives to encourage the public and part-time conservators to protect cultural relics. "We award the 'Honorary Librarian' certificate to part-time conservators and to those who have excavated cultural relics and report in a timely manner, with which they can take the whole family to visit the museum for free." Wei Qiantao said.
Actively exploring the establishment of an effective cultural relics protection system and mechanism, establishing a compensation mechanism for cultural relics protection and a social participation mechanism for cultural relics protection, can mobilize social forces to the greatest extent and let the people truly become the guardians of cultural heritage. "The active participation and support of the broad masses of the people is a decisive force for the existence and development of the cause of cultural relics protection, and it is also the future and hope of the cause of cultural relics protection." Tian Hui, deputy director of the Xingping Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and director of the Maoling Museum, said. Source: Shaanxi Daily