The Year of the Tiger says the tiger - an early tiger-shaped ornament in northern China
Lu Zi
Tigers were a popular subject in the early northern culture. The author divides them into late Neolithic tiger ornaments, Bronze Age tiger ornaments, and early Iron Age tiger ornaments according to time, as detailed below.
1. Tiger-shaped ornaments in the late Neolithic period
First, let's look at a conjecture about the origin of the merchants: Professor Guo Jingyun pointed out that during the Yin Shang period, the area in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Hebei Plain where the Yin Ruins were located was not the natural living range of tigers, and the residents of this area had never seen tigers, so there was no belief in tiger worship, and the local ceremonial vessels did not see the shape of tigers before Yin Shang. The tigers worshipped by the merchant aristocracy were most likely from the north. That is to say, the merchants are from the north, and how much north is that, I think the answer is Lake Baikal. If I add a deadline, I think it's ten thousand years. Ten thousand years before the history, lake Baikal was in the easternmost part of the Eurasian mammoth steppe, where the ancestors of merchants hunted mammoths, woolly rhinoceros and other large animals, and as the temperature gradually cooled, the large animals quickly went extinct under the dual factors of environmental changes and human hunting. Merchants were helpless, went south to seek new vitality, successively through Hulunbuir, Heilongjiang, Jilin and other places after more than 5,000 years and finally arrived in Henan, the Central Plains, established China's first great dynasty - Yin Shang Dynasty, during which many cultural types such as Hack culture, Xiaonanshan culture, Andhamin culture were left behind.
The tiger-shaped ornaments of this period belong to the Shenyu Era, and the tiger is an idol used to worship, with a more abstract shape and a gentle face, rather than green fangs.
Fig. 1. Jade bird tiger-shaped ornament, late Neolithic.
Baikal white jade, the overall shape of the abstract freehand, the back of the jade tiger has a jade bird standing, the tiger back standing bird shape in the later Yin Shang culture is often seen, has no idea what the connotation is.
Fig. 2. Yuli tiger-shaped ornament, late Neolithic.
Local jade, partially affected by yellow Qin. The overall shape is vivid and cute, and it should be a shaman idol, which is used in the sacrificial activities.
2. Bronze Age tiger-shaped ornaments
In the early and middle bronze age, the tiger-shaped adorned stars on the northern steppes was almost invisible. The tiger-shaped ornaments of the upper culture of Xiajiadian in the late Bronze Age are full of rich shamanic temperament and strong sorcery, such as in the worship of fertility, implying the meaning of a tiger like a son.
Figure 3: Bronze standing tiger-shaped ornament, the upper culture of Xiajiadian.
Figure 4: Bronze to tiger-shaped ornament, Xiajiadian upper culture.
Figure 5: Bronze tiger-patterned needle tube, xiajiadian upper culture.
Figure 6: Bronze tooth-shaped pair of tiger-shaped ornaments, xiajiadian upper culture.
Figure 7: Inlaid with glass tiger-shaped ornaments, Shanrong culture.
3. Early Iron Age tiger-shaped ornaments
From the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period to the entire Warring States Period, various cultural types in the entire Eurasian steppe fused and evolved, reflecting each other, which can be regarded as the heyday of the early culture in the north. The tiger-shaped ornaments of this period have been detached from the divinity and sorcery, paying more attention to artistic expression, and the Scott style is obvious, paying attention to the sense of line or muscle strength of the pattern, and the composition is full of tension.
Figure 8: Bronze tiger-shaped ornament, Mao Qinggou style, early Warring States period.
This plaque is beautifully lined, simple and powerful, and uses exaggerated techniques to represent the tiger's blood basin mouth and claws.
Figure 9: Bronze birds and tigers fighting each other, Warring States.
Figure 10.Bone Tiger Bites Sheep Brand Ornament, Warring States.
Bronze Tiger Ornament Collection (Figures 11-23), Warring States. The following is shown in figures 11-23 in turn
During the epidemic period, you can't go out, you are bored, write a small article to eat the same good, there are many personal views in the text, purely subjective assumptions, if there is any mistake, please forgive me.
This article has been published with the author's permission and the images are provided by the author