Period: Neolithic
Material: Clay
Application: Ritual utensils, tableware
Place of collection: National Museum of China
The name of this cultural relic is Tao Yingding, which comes from the Yangshao culture more than 5,000 years ago, and his shape is very unique, it is a cute eagle, which is now in the National Museum of China.
The eagle is a bird of prey, a symbol of authority and bravery. Prove that its owner has a higher status status. The two legs and one tail skillfully form a three-legged posture, which stabilizes the body. It is not only a precious cultural relic with exquisite shapes, but also an indispensable practical artifact at that time, reflecting the wisdom and ingenuity of the ancients.
Tao Ying Ding was discovered in 1957 by local farmer Yin Siyi in the process of ploughing the field, and was originally used as a chicken feed pot. Until 1958, when archaeology students in the History Department of Peking University came here for internship, Yin Siyi donated this yingding ding. In 1959, the China History Museum (National Museum) was built, and under the personal care of Premier Zhou, a large number of precious cultural relics were requisitioned from all over the country, and it was at this time that Tao Yingding arrived at the National Museum from Peking University. In 1993, it was selected by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Mr. Samaranch, as China's Olympic bid ambassador to Switzerland to exhibit, completed the gorgeous transformation from chicken food bowl to Olympic bid ambassador, in 2002, Tao Yingding was also selected into the first batch of cultural relics prohibited from export exhibition, becoming one of the 64 national treasure cultural relics that can only be exhibited in China.
Miǎnchi County, Henan Province
Yangshao culture is famous for its exquisite faience pottery, and the advent of Tao Yingding shows that people at that time were not only good at the creation of painted drawings, but also had a strong strength in plastic arts. Tao Yingding was unearthed from an adult female tomb, and more than a dozen bone daggers, several stone gui, stone axes and a batch of living utensils were produced. Items such as stone gui and bone daggers are often used as ceremonial vessels. The eagles are placed in the same tomb as them, and the form is different, which may be related to the ritual activities of the time.
Eagle-shaped pottery is a perfect combination of primitive art and practical function, and is a rare sculptural art treasure in ancient times. "Among the Neolithic pottery that has been discovered, the pottery in the shape of birds, which is currently only seen in this one piece, is a masterpiece of the original pottery process. Its ingenious design, appropriate proportions, beautiful shape, realistic form, exquisite production, focusing on the perfect combination of modeling and practicality, is still a rare treasure in China, and is the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors five thousand years ago. At the same time, the animal-shaped ceramic sculpture led by Tao Yingding also opened the precedent of the Shang Dynasty bird and beast shape bronze ware modeling. "
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