As we all know, Beijing was once the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the thirteen emperors were buried in Beijing after their deaths, so there was the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs are located in Tianshou Mountain, Changping District, Beijing, about 50 kilometers away from Beijing City, and the thirteen imperial tombs are grand in scale and imposing, becoming world cultural heritage, national key cultural relics protection unit, and national 5A-level tourist attractions.
Twelve of the Ming Tombs have not been excavated, and only one mausoleum has been excavated, that is, dingling.
This is the mausoleum of Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty, whose era name is Wanli. Located at the foot of Dayu Mountain, Dingling was built from 1584 to 1590 and took 6 years to build, and is the mausoleum of Emperor Myōjin and his two empresses.
Emperor Mingshen (1563–1620)
The thirteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun, whose era name is Wanli, is the longest reigning emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty. The history of the Ming Dynasty lasted nearly 48 years in the Wanli Era. During the reign of Emperor Myōjin, the first ten years of striving to be strong, the middle ten years from diligence to laziness, and finally nearly thirty years of "ignoring everything". His main characteristics are greed for wine, lust, greed for money and greed for power, and he has always been "dominant", which can be described as a master of power, and from this point of view, he is not a mediocre person. But he also lacked the great talent and strategy of Ming Taizu and Ming Chengzu. He was located in the early 1670s and finally in the 1720s. At that time, the whole world was in a period of great change. China's feudal society has also reached a late stage of development, "the world is falling apart", new production relations have begun to sprout, the productive forces have developed tremendously, and they are also on the eve of drastic changes from ancient society to modern society. In this great change in history, due to the stubbornness of the Chinese feudal system for thousands of years, coupled with his psychological pathology of indulging in wine and goods, instead of enabling China to keep up with the new trend of the world and usher in the dawn of a new era, on the contrary, in his hands, the Ming Dynasty was pushed into a desperate situation and accelerated the historical process of its end.
Empress Xiaojing of the Ming Dynasty (1566–1603)
Dingling began construction as early as the death of the Wanli Emperor, and the emperor was only 28 years old when the mausoleum was built, and a total of eight million taels of silver were consumed.
Dingling covers an area of more than 180,000 square meters, with a wide courtyard in front and a tall treasure city in the back, and the main buildings are the Qi'en Gate, the Qi'en Hall, the Baocheng, the Ming Tower and the Underground Palace, etc., becoming one of the three largest cemeteries in the Ming Tombs. Unfortunately, after the peasant army invaded Beijing at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing army entered the customs, the ground building of the cemetery was destroyed.
In 1958, the state excavated the Ming Ding Mausoleum, and more than 3,000 artifacts of various kinds were unearthed, which is the only mausoleum in the Ming Tombs that has been excavated.
However, due to the backward technology at that time, countless rare treasures could not be preserved, the excavated silk fabrics became hard and corrupt, the red coffins refined from three golden silk nan wood were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and the bones of the empress did not survive, and the losses were heavy, so since then the state has no longer approved the excavation of the imperial tombs.
Two treasures have been unearthed in Dingling, one of which is the crown of the Wanli Emperor, which is the only golden crown of the emperor found so far, and is known as the treasure of the Zhenling Tomb of Dingling.
The golden crown is all made of gold wire, weighs 826 grams, has no joints, no solder joints, and is superbly crafted, and the golden crown is now treasured in the Ming Tombs Dingling Museum.
The second is the phoenix crown of Empress Xiaoduan of the Ming Dynasty, 9 dragons and 9 phoenix crowns, which are now in the collection of the National Museum of China.
Dingling phoenix crown is graceful and luxurious, with hundreds of gemstones, thousands of pearls, filigree made of gold as raw materials, woven into the shape of a dragon, exquisite.
Exquisite jade artifacts unearthed from Dingling
A large number of jade artifacts have been excavated from Dingling, and there are four types of jade vessels, jade ceremonial vessels, jade pendants and jade materials. Jade utensils mainly include jade lords, jade pots, jade boxes, jade cups, jade bowls, jade cups, jade ceremonial vessels mainly include jade bi and jade gui, jade pendants are decorated with jade belt hooks, jade leather belts, jade pendants and jade earrings, jade hairpins and other jewelry.
These late Ming Dynasty royal jades are exquisitely selected, mainly based on Xinjiang Hotan white jade, the polishing glass luster is relatively strong, the polishing level exceeds the jade production of the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, and is close to the jade polishing process of the Warring Han Dynasty; at the same time, the production of these Ming Dynasty court jades is often combined with gilding, jewelry setting, burning blue and other processes, and it is extremely luxurious.
The court jade excavated from Dingling in the late Ming Dynasty was concentrated on the craftsmanship of one country and one dynasty, reflecting the level and aesthetic characteristics of jade making at that time, and representing the highest achievement of jade production in the late Ming Dynasty.
The picture above is a gold cover and a golden jade bowl excavated from the Wanli Tomb of Dingling, with a height of 7 cm, a caliber of 15.2 cm, and a foot diameter of 5.9 cm, made of Xinjiang Hetian white jade, jade bowl light element, open curved abdomen, circle foot.
Placed in a gold tray engraved with a cloud dragon pattern, there is a gold lid with a hollow cloud dragon pattern inlaid with rubies.
The picture above is a gold tray inlaid gemstone jade cup excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, with a height of 11.5 cm and a length of 13.2 cm, the material is Xinjiang Hetian Qingbai jade with slight yellow Qin, the body is in the shape of a yuanbao, deep abdomen, round bottom, and the top of the circular column is engraved with ornaments.
Through-carved dragon shaped handle, knight body carved dragon pattern, ruyi pattern and "ten thousand", "shou" character, three-column column root carved ruyi cloud pattern, knight cup configuration a piece of engraved hook cloud pattern, sea water river cliff, two dragon play bead pattern and inlaid red, the golden tray of the sapphire, the whole instrument takes the meaning of "Shoushan Fuhai", "longevity without boundaries".
The picture above is a gilted gold and silver plate jade cup excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, with a caliber of 5.8 cm and a height of 5.5 cm, made of Xinjiang Hetian white jade, the cup is open, deep abdomen, circle foot, phototrophoid, with skeletonized morning glory flower-shaped ears on both sides, and rubies inlaid on the flower heart, placed in a silver tray with gilded floral inlaid gemstones.
The picture above is a golden box jade bowl excavated from the Wanli Tomb of Dingling, with a caliber of 10.8 cm, a height of 4.2 cm, and a bottom diameter of 10.4 cm, made of Xinjiang Hetian white jade, round belly, mouth, flat bottom.
The abdomen is carved with a deformed phoenix pattern, and the claw holds the reishi mushroom, and depicts gold. The bottom of the cup is equipped with a round wooden support with black paint, which is placed in a gold box with hollowed-out cloud dragons and seawater cliff patterns.
The picture above is a jade jug excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, with a height of 25 cm and a caliber of 5.3 cm, Xinjiang Hetian Green White Jade, the pot has a slender neck, a slightly flattened abdomen, a fine flow of inverted dragon head, an ear-shaped handle, a raspberry-shaped lid on top of a round button sleeve connected to the handle by a living ring, and an oval figure foot. The belly of the pot is raised with a peach-shaped open light and the inner yin is engraved with the word "Shou", and the left and right symmetries are engraved with the word "swastika". It is supported by floral patterns. The jade pot is served with an oval gold tray.
The picture above shows the jade basin excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, 6.3 cm high, 29 cm in diameter, 22 cm in bottom diameter, green jade, all body phototropics.
The outer folding plate is along the edge, rolled along the edge, the mouth is slightly sword, the curved abdomen, and the flat bottom are the same as the gilded basins excavated from the tomb, which is the standard instrument type of the middle Ming Dynasty.
The picture above shows the jade box excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, 6.8 cm high, 8 caliber, wall thickness 0.4 cm, green jade, blue-white center with black qin spots. All-over photonsyl.
Cylindrical, flat mouth, flat bottom, straight abdomen. There are four short feet at the bottom, slightly extravagant. At the time of excavation, the vessel was filled with a piece of black round soap.
The picture above is a jade belt excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, 146 cm long and 7 cm wide, and 20 pieces of flat white jade ornaments are embellished on the belt, the jade is Xinjiang Hetian mutton fat white jade, the back of the jade ornament is drilled with small holes in the pair, the rectangular jade has four holes, one end is an arc-shaped rectangular jade with five holes, the flat rectangular jade has two holes, and the peach-shaped jade has three holes, which are connected with copper wire and leather belts.
The picture above is a gold-encrusted gem-encrusted jade tuan dragon pattern belt excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, 9.7 cm long and 5.1 cm wide, cloud-shaped gold pallet, embedded in the center of the front with a white jade carved tuanlong, with red inlaid at both ends of the belt, and two square buttons with four ruyi clouds at the back of the sapphire and pearl.
The bottom is a filigree cloud pattern, and the four walls are inlaid with gold ingots, ancient coins, cloud heads and other "eight treasures" patterns on the filigree.
The picture above is a gold-encrusted gemstone jasper with hook excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, 14.2 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, made of Xinjiang Hetian jasper, with hook carved into the shape of a dragon's head, shrimp eyes, small ears, open mouth and teeth, and a flat mouth.
The arched hook back is set with five gold holders, inlaid with red, yellow and sapphires. The jewel on the dragon's forehead has fallen off. The circular hook button is engraved with a reishi pattern.
The picture above is a gold-encrusted gem-inlaid white jade with a hook excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, 11 cm long and 2 cm wide, made of Xinjiang Hetian white jade, with hook carved into the shape of a dragon's head, fine eyes, small ears, flush mouth, long hair carved in the yin, and four oval gold supports embedded in the arched hook back, embedded in red, yellow, sapphire, and dragon's eye inlaid with cat's eye.
Oval hook buttons. With crochet-encrusted gold inlays, the carved lines are smooth and smooth, rich and gorgeous.
The picture above is an agate with hook excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, 11.6 cm long and 2.2 cm wide, the agate is white throughout, with black and brown spots, with hook carving as a sheep's head shape, two horns curved backwards with the shape of the instrument, vivid and natural, the curve is smooth and graceful, and the back of the hook is a circular button.
The picture above shows a jade belt ornament with gold dragon and phoenix pattern excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, with a length of 10.7 cm, the two diagonal angles of the jade ornament are 5.3 cm long and 0.47 cm thick, and an octagonal white jade piece is inlaid in the center of the front.
The picture above shows the golden jade gemstone hairpin excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, the left side of the golden jade gemstone hairpin is 13.5 cm long, the top length is 7.1 cm, and the width is 4.7 cm, the middle jade gemstone hairpin is 13.5 cm long, the top length is 9.3 cm, and the width is 6.7 cm, and the right side of the gold and jade gemstone hairpin is 9.9 cm long, 7.4 cm long and 4.6 cm wide.
Xinjiang Hetian white jade is used to make theme decoration, jade piece carving or flower deformation "Shou" character, etc., surrounded by gold inlaid ruby, opal, pearl, etc. to form a "Shou" shaped hairpin top. The back of the middle jade gemstone hairpin rod is engraved with the Wanli Pengwu New Year.
The picture above is the Yugui excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, the left Yugui is 26.8 cm long, 5.9 cm wide and 0.97 cm thick, the right Yugui is 27.3 cm long and 6.4 cm wide, the material is green jade, there is a groove on both sides of the front of the left piece, the groove is raised vertical ridge, the back is flat, the shape is dignified, chic, the right piece of Yu Gui is under the tip, the front is engraved with four mountain patterns, and the lines are depicted with gold.
The four mountains are divided into upper and lower left and right, symbolizing the mountains of the four towns of the east, south, west and north, which means "the mountains and mountains are in hand, and the four sides are stable". It was held by the emperor at the time of the grand ceremony, and was placed at the western end of the Wanli Emperor's coffin when it was excavated.
The picture above is the golden ring jade rabbit earrings excavated from the Dingling Wanli Tomb, with a length of 8 cm, a rabbit height of 2.4 cm, under the round gold earrings, a jade rabbit pendant with rubies, jade blue and white fine, rabbit vertical ears, red eyes, upright, holding pole, under the mortar, for the shape of a medicine.