Beijing Daily | Written by Guo Jingning
"The little white rabbit is white and white, and its ears are pricked up; Love to eat turnips love to eat vegetables, bouncing is so cute. "2023 is the year of the rabbit in the lunar calendar. In traditional Chinese culture, rabbits are not only one of the twelve zodiac signs, but also have always been regarded as auspicious, so they are quite popular, and there are many rabbit cultural relics preserved in ancient times, and the image of rabbits is cute or straightforward.
Bronze rabbit head
Chitu Da Rui White Rabbit Zhong Rui
The Yin Shang oracle bone text has the word "rabbit" and records about rabbits. The rabbit-shaped jade ornament of the Western Zhou rabbit excavated from the Liuli River in Fangshan, Beijing, is yellow, white, black and brown in cyan, with a hard texture and partial translucency. The rabbit is running, with protruding eyes, closed mouth, long ears upright, front legs arched, hind legs pedaled, tail upturned, vivid shape, 3.5 cm long.
The ancient book "Rui Ying Tu" recorded: "Red rabbit Da Rui, white rabbit Zhong Rui." "If you can travel to ancient times with a white rabbit, you will sing and dance to the imperial court, indicating that the monarch is virtuous and the great rule of the sea, and you can still be named an official." According to records, in the first year of Jianping, the third year of Yonghe and the first year of Yongkang in the Han Dynasty, there were people who presented white rabbits to the imperial court.
Ancient wild rabbits were mostly gray-brown in color, and white rabbits were extremely rare, which was a mutant phenomenon, so it was considered "Zhongrui" dedicated to the emperor. Of course, red rabbits are rarer, so there is a saying of "dragon and phoenix among people, red rabbit in horses", and Lv Bu's "red rabbit horse" can be described as a boutique in horses. The rabbit is not only an auspicious thing, but also a symbol of longevity, and the legend of a rabbit in the moon has a long history. Because of its auspicious and longevity meaning, there are many rabbit cultural relics preserved in ancient times, including porcelain, jade, wood, crystal and other materials.
Ming dynasty Pengcheng kiln white ground black flower rabbit pattern pot
Rabbits are closely related to human history
Rabbits are closely related to the history of mankind. In the 500,000-year-old Zhoukoudian Peking Ape Man site, fossils of rabbit-shaped mammals, including hares and pikas, have been found. 24,000 years ago, Mongolian grass rabbit fossils were found at the ancient human activity site of Wangfujing Oriental Square. At the time, they were on human recipes.
Since the Tang Dynasty, due to the development and popularity of the concept of the zodiac, many epitaphs or tomb walls have carved or painted zodiac patterns. "Rabbit" is naturally essential.
The Tang Dynasty epitaph found in Xicheng District, the zhi cover is covered in the shape of a bucket, and the four characters "Zhao Cemetery Journal" are engraved in the center. Four kills (horns) are carved with treasure flowers, and four sides (three on each side) line is engraved with portraits of the twelve lives of the head of the beast. Each zodiac sign has their hands around their front waist and their posture is respectful. The head of the zodiac sign is one of the twelve genera phases, and the rabbit appears at nine o'clock. The rabbit's head is to the left, wearing a robe and high shoes, carrying a wat, and the image of a civil official.
The crystal rabbit of the Liao Dynasty unearthed in Tongzhou is in a lying shape, with ears, eyes, mouth, claws, etc., although it is simply carved with a few knives, but it is vivid. The rabbit ornament is 2 cm high, 3 cm long and 1.1 cm wide, with simple and stable lines, vivid shapes, cute shapes, and perforated holes under the neck. This artifact is supposed to be a necklace pendant worn by a woman, a fine piece of Liao Dynasty crystal carvings.
"Moving rabbit" means that the rabbit runs extremely fast. The word "Yi" literally means "walking rabbit". Rabbits run faster than horses, reaching more than seventy kilometers per hour, no wonder the ancients used the word "Yi" to mean galloping. The rabbit in the Jin Dynasty mural in Shijingshan has both ears erected, rushing forward, and its tail is upturned, but unfortunately the picture is destroyed, but you can also feel the rapid lifting of the rabbit.
Rabbit on a Jin dynasty mural
Jade rabbit pounding medicine is an important subject in ancient myths and legends, and the picture of Chang'e Moon Palace has always been shown, and an image of jade rabbit pounding medicine is indispensable to show the yearning for immortality. The jade rabbit pounding medicine is found in Hanle Mansion's "Dong Fleeing". According to legend, there are rabbits in the moon, which are as white as jade, so they are called "jade rabbits". Fu Xuan of the Jin Dynasty said in "Quasi-Heavenly Direction": "What is in the middle of the month, the white rabbit pounds medicine." ”
The jade rabbit pounding earrings unearthed in the Dingling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty, the rabbit is carved from green and white jade, with vertical ears, inlaid with rubies as eyes, upright, two front paws holding the pestle as a pounding medicine, there is a moula under it, and the rabbit has hair carved with a fine yin line. The jade rabbit stepped on 3 cloud-shaped gold trays, the gold tuo center was inlaid with opal, and rubies were set on each side, with a total length of 5.8 cm and a rabbit height of 2.4 cm. The whole earrings are strange and gorgeous.
Ming dynasty jade rabbit pounding medicine earrings
The Ming Dynasty porcelain pot unearthed in Xicheng District, with a brown painted rabbit on the inner bottom, is in the style of Cizhou kiln, but it is incomplete. However, the Palace Museum has a white black flower rabbit pattern pot from the Pengcheng kiln in the Ming Dynasty, which can give a glimpse of the whole picture.
The flower gilded rabbit frame of the Ming Dynasty, the rabbit is lying on its side, with its head held high, its eyes are bright, its ears are erected, and the mouth is attached to the Lingzhi handle, the handle is wrapped back, and the Lingzhi is raised. The front and rear limbs are long and the small tail is upturned. The copper mirror is used between the reishi and the hind limbs. Gilt spaced throughout to show the luster of the rabbit. This frame is both practical and beautiful, and is a rare and exquisite work of art.
Ming dynasty gilt rabbit frame
White Rabbit gives birth to a son, Qunchenga
The white and white rabbit was chanted by many poets in ancient times. Hanle Fu's poem "Ancient Yan Song": "The white rabbit is a white rabbit, go east and west." Clothes are not as good as new, people are not as good as old. "The description of an abandoned woman, like the lonely and helpless white rabbit wandering in the wilderness, makes people mourn. There is a poem in the Tang Dynasty court poet Wang Jian's "One Hundred Palace Words": "The new autumn white rabbit is larger than a fist, and the red ears and frost hair sleep while the grass sleeps." The Son of Heaven does not teach people to shoot, and the jade whip covers the horse's hooves. "Because of the little white rabbit's youth and sleeping state, the emperor can't bear to hunt it. Song Dynasty Ouyang Xiu composed "White Rabbit": "The white rabbit pounds the medicine in the palace, and the jade pass is locked at night." It is even recorded in the "History of Ming": "(Jiajing) In the spring and March of the forty-first year, the white rabbit gave birth, the officials asked the temple, (Jiajing Emperor) Xu Zhi, and the ministers expressed congratulations." "A white rabbit gave birth, and the crowd congratulated it, it sounds incredible today.
The Palace Museum has a bright blue and white flower white rabbit pattern plate, the inner wall of the plate is depicted with blue and white pine, bamboo, plum and cold three friend patterns, and the center of the plate is painted with a blue and white round white rabbit pattern, just like the jade rabbit lying in a full moon. The outsole is signed with a six-character double-line model in blue and white italics "Daming Xuande Year", and the font appears sloppy, which is far from the writing method of the Xuande dynasty. This plate has blue and purple hair color, rich and colorful, and the body is slender, so this porcelain plate should be an imitation of the Longqing Dynasty.
Bright blue and white flower Sanyou floral white rabbit pattern plate
Du Fu's poem "Moon" has the sentence "The toad does not enter the river, and the medicine rabbit lives forever", describing the moonlight of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The shape of the jade rabbit depicted on this plate is poetic, or has the beautiful meaning of wishing people a long life and praying for reunion. The rabbit pattern is painted with pine, bamboo and plum years, which adds a little elegant interest to this small kiln plate from the late Ming Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty jade rabbit pendant unearthed in Dongcheng District, with rabbits crawling on the ground and stepping on lentils, appear docile and kind. This jade pendant is made with clever use of the different colors on the emerald and is beautifully made.
Qing dynasty jade rabbit pendant
The head of the 12 zodiac beasts of the Qing Dynasty in front of the Haiyan Hall of the Old Summer Palace, commonly known as the water clock. These beasts have copper heads that spray water from their mouths every two hours, and are a treasure of Chinese and Western cultures. They have long been lost overseas and have now returned to China. The rabbit's head is round and ears are three-lobed and the mouth is three-lobed, and the slender rabbit is unseen.
Mingren Ji Kun said: "The Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing is mostly in the shape of mud rabbits, dressed like a human, and children worship them. It is recorded in the "Records of the Yanjing Dynasty": "Every Mid-Autumn Festival, the skillful people of the city use yellow mud to make the image of a toad and rabbit to sell, which is called the rabbit master." "Rabbit is a traditional toy for the Mid-Autumn Festival, derived from the traditional Chinese worship of the moon god, and the old Beijingers also call it "long-eared Dingguang Immortal". Legend has it that the jade rabbit pounded medicine to cure diseases and disasters for the people of the world, and people created a colorful image of the rabbit grandfather. These painted clay rabbits have eclectic shapes, but the features of three-lobed beaks and long ears are the most common.
From the image of the jade rabbit in the Western Zhou Dynasty, to the crystal rabbit in the Liao Dynasty, to the jade rabbit pounding medicine theme in the Ming Dynasty, and then to the Mid-Autumn Festival "rabbit grandpa" with various shapes since the late Qing Dynasty, in addition to the auspicious omen, the meaning and content of the jade rabbit are becoming more and more broad in specific situations.
(Author's affiliation: Beijing Institute of Archaeology)