Bronze ware, known as "Jin" or "Ji Jin" in ancient times, Chinese bronze is world-famous and enjoys a high reputation and artistic value among the world's bronzes. Mainland bronzes are not only diverse, exquisitely shaped, but also very imaginative, when it comes to bronzes, the first reaction in people's minds is the treasure of the town and the country - the Shang Dynasty's stepmother Pengding (Simu Pengding) it. But the cultural relics to be mentioned today are the Jinhou Su chimes in the Shanghai Museum and the Shanxi Museum, which is also one of the most valuable Western Zhou bronzes unearthed in recent years.
The Jinhou Su chimes were unearthed in the 1990s, in a small village called Qucun in Quwo County, Houma City, Shanxi Province, where nineteen tombs of the Marquis of Jin and his wife were found, thus confirming that this was the earliest capital of the Jin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, but it was found too late, eight tombs of the Marquis of Jin had been stolen, and archaeologists looked at the remains of the stolen tombs and were distraught.
After the Jinhou Su chimes were stolen by the tomb thieves, they were exiled in Hong Kong, and after a long period of upheaval, they were known as the "first bronze person in China" - under the insight of Ma Chengyuan, director of the Shanghai Museum, the national treasure was successfully returned.
In 1992, Mr. Ma Chengyuan visited Hong Kong and was accompanied by his friend Fan Jirong to visit Hong Kong's antique streets, which were full of stolen cultural relics from the mainland, and only insiders understood the true and false. In the variety of shops, Mr. Ma Chengyuan took a fancy to a chime clock covered with dust and mold and rust.
His friend was very surprised, because many collectors in Hong Kong at that time agreed that this was a copy, obviously, the style of the chimes was from the Western Zhou, but the degree of rust was not right, the gold text on the top was still engraved on the back, not cast, and the inscription on it could not be read at all, and the counterfeiter was a novice at first glance. But Mr. Ma Chengyuan did not believe that this was a forgery, who would be idle and have nothing to do, after creating a flawless chime, he had to paint a snake and add enough to engrave it, why not cast the gold text when it was manufactured? Seem a little more real?
According to his many years of experience in dealing with bronzes, Mr. Ma Chengyuan, who was cautious and careful, found three very hidden gold texts from the rust marks of the chimes- "Marquis Su of Jin", and immediately concluded that this was a set of Western Zhou chimes, and it was stolen from Shanxi.
Although the above text is engraved, it was carved after casting at that time; the degree of rust of the chimes is not enough, it may be buried deep in the ground before excavation, which is well protected, and the excavation time is not long; the inscription cannot be read because the chimes are complete sets, and all the chimes are read smoothly. Judging from the inscription, Mr. Ma believes that the chimes are incomplete and there may be other missing items, so he resolutely decided to rescue the cultural relics back to China.
Picture of the inscription of the Chimes of Jinhou Su
The owner of the antique shop was overjoyed to learn that someone was going to buy the chime, which was identified as an "imitation", and did not hesitate to sell the "hot potato" to Mr. Ma Chengyuan for 100,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 60,000 yuan) of cabbage. Mr. Ma brought the cultural relics back to the Shanghai Museum and conducted a series of in-depth studies on the chimes, according to the inscriptions on the chimes, its owner was Su, who was the eighth prince of the Jin Dynasty, known as the Marquis of Jin.
Soon after, during a rescue excavation at the site in Qucun, dozens of bronzes were unearthed, two of which were almost identical to the 14 chimes in the Shanghai Museum's collection, which were identified as a set of chimes. The inscription of more than 300 words above records the beginning and end of the thirty-three years of Zhou Li Wang, the beginning and end of the Conquest of The Marquis Su of Jin following the King of Zhou, providing valuable information for the study of the history of the mainland, and the origin of the Chimes of the Marquis Su of Jin is also revealed.
The Jinhou Su chimes were designated as national first-class cultural relics, and their value exceeded 1 billion yuan, Mr. Ma Chengyuan relied on his wisdom to exchange cabbage for a golden mountain, and the Jinhou Su chimes also became the treasure of the Shanghai Museum.