『Editor's note: The beauty of national treasures, through ancient and modern times, is magnificent. Behind each rare cultural relic is the ingenuity and wisdom of the ancients, engraved with the cultural genes of the Chinese nation, and witnessing the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations. From 11 January 2023, China News Service "East-West Question" has launched the "Treasures of the Town Hall" series of planning (1) to explore the meaning of cultural relics and the stories behind them."
Guanghan, 14 Jan (ZXS) -- Why is the Sanxingdui bronze statue called "the king of bronze statues in the world"?
——Interview with Chen Dean, researcher of Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the first station manager of Sanxingdui Site Workstation
China News Agency reporter Yue Yitong
The bronze statue unearthed in 1986 in the No. 2 sacrificial pit of the Sanxingdui site is one of the "treasures of the town hall" of the Sanxingdui Museum. With a height of 260.8 centimeters and a figure height of 180 centimeters (crown to sole), this precious cultural relic weighs about 180 kilograms, making it the tallest and most complete bronze statue in existence, and the largest bronze figure statue in the world at the same time, known as the "king of bronze statues in the world".
What is the true identity of the bronze statue? What do you hold in your hands? Why does the bronze statue reflect the close connection between the ancient Shu civilization and the Central Plains civilization? What kind of religious view does it show the ancient Shu people? As one of the excavators of the bronze statue, Chen Dean, researcher of the Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the first station manager of the Sanxingdui Site Workstation, recently accepted an exclusive interview with the China News Agency's "East-West Question".
The following is a summary of the interview:
China News Agency: Why is the bronze statue called "the king of bronze statues in the world"?
Chen Dean: When the bronze statue was unearthed, it was broken into two parts, lying on its back at the bottom of the pit with its hands raised. At the end of the excavation of the sacrificial pit, everyone was thrilled to be able to unearth such a heavy artifact, and we cleaned up the surrounding artifacts and dirt before carefully lifting it out.
This artifact is inlaid with a segmented casting method, with a hollow body and two parts: a figure and a base. The figure wears a high crown on his head, wears a three-layer garment with narrow sleeves and half arms, and the decorations on the clothes are intricate and exquisite, mainly dragon patterns, supplemented by bird patterns, insect patterns and eye patterns, etc., and wearing checkered belt ornaments. His hands are hollow and his arms are slightly wrapped around his chest. Wearing foot bracelets and standing barefoot on a square pedestal, the overall image is solemn.
▲Sanxingdui bronze statue. Photo by Wang Lei
Such an important cultural relic is studied in the context of the bronze civilization of the Shang Dynasty of China or the bronze civilization of the world, and its characteristics are also very distinct, the most prominent is the tall, and the height of the bronze statue even exceeds the Yin Wu bronze several times. From a deeper background, being able to cast such a tall bronze statue in sections not only highlights the superb bronze casting skills of the ancient Shu ancestors, but also shows the development of Chinese bronze civilization at that time.
Due to the addition of tin and lead to bronze, the mobility is strong, for the Chinese ancestors to cast complex bronze laid the material foundation, while China's bronze casting technology is maturing, constantly climbing the peak of technology and art, at the same time other civilizations in the world still use red copper as a copper raw material, red copper can usually only be made, can not cast more complex ornaments or some cavity of the utensils.
In the context of the above era, the bronze statue is also unique in the global perspective, and as the world's largest bronze figure statue of the same period, it is well-deserved to be known as the "king of bronze statues in the world".
▲Chen De'an and bronze statue. Photo by Wang Lei
China News Agency: What is the true identity of the bronze statue? What does it hold in both hands?
Chen Dean: From the structure of this bronze, the bottom is a trapezoidal base, and there are four supporting "legs" above it, but this part looks like a dragon's mouth when viewed from four directions. Above the dragon's horn is a small platform on which the bronze figure stands.
The bronze figure holds its hands up, as if holding something, but what exactly is it holding? There are different views in the industry on this, such as ivory, jade, and yazhang. Personally, through the study of gestures of bronze figures unearthed in Sanxingdui, I think that this person did not take anything, but simulated the shape of rising into the air, and assumed a ceremonial pose, implying that "he" was slowly rising and flying high into the sky to worship the gods.
The small platform on which the bronze figure stands is surrounded by cloud patterns, beaded patterns, and sun patterns, showing the sun rising from the sky and shining brightly. The figure stands on the platform, the shape is slender, as if standing on a cloud, and its hem is also hanging down, giving people a rising dynamic. Combined with the dragon head on top of the platform, this sense of ascent is even stronger, highlighting the desire of the ancient Shu people to get as close to the gods as possible.
▲Bronze statue base. Photo by Li Huili
There are also different opinions in the industry about the identity of the bronze statue. I think it may be witches, but it's more like kings. As far as the clothing it wears is concerned, narrow sleeves, left side, although wearing three layers, but giving people a light and flowing feeling, combined with the silk excavated from the sacrificial pit at the Sanxingdui site, it is likely to be silk products, which was a very luxurious clothing at that time. There was also a tie on the shirt, which went around the edge of the collar, knotted at the back, and there was a hole in the middle of the two knots, which I speculated had originally had a decoration that might have fallen. The patterns on the clothes are intricate and exquisite, and the dragon patterns, animal face patterns, bird patterns, insect patterns, and back patterns are clearly visible, creating a precedent for the imperial clothing pattern of 黻黼 (fúfǔ).
▲Bronze statue part. Photo by Li Huili
The costume and the image of being carried into the air by the dragon clearly show its good identity and has reached the imperial level. Such a character dressed in elaborate and exquisite dress, personally participating in the sacrifice, must be a great sacrifice. And this bronze statue is placed in the temple, it is not difficult to speculate that thousands of years ago, the worship of the heavenly gods was a solemn and frequent thing for the ancestors of ancient Shu.
China News Agency: What kind of religious view does the bronze statue show the ancient Shu people?
Chen Dean: Looking at the various bronzes unearthed throughout Sanxingdui, it is not difficult to see that the ancient Shu ancestors attached great importance to the worship and sacrifice of gods. Through decades of analysis and research on artifacts unearthed at the Sanxingdui site, I believe that the sacrificial behavior of the ancestors of Sanxingdui may have been based on the emergence of meteorological phenomena and astronomical phenomena. Taking the "sun-shaped device" shaped like a steering wheel as an example, this artifact reflects the phenomenon of solar halo, why was it created and placed in the temple for sacrifice? Because the ancient Shu people were in awe of this meteorological phenomenon.
In the era when farming was the main mode of production, the religious view of Sanxingdui ancestors was actually based on the observation of the whole world from generation to generation, which is a characteristic of natural religion and the biggest difference between natural religion and man-made religion. The ancients observed special natural phenomena that could not be explained by the knowledge of natural science at that time, and regarded them as the arrival of gods or the appearance of miracles, resulting in sacrificial behavior, and the main purpose of their sacrifices was to pray for good weather and rain.
In the case of the bronze statue, such a noble "king" personally participated in the sacrifice and attached great importance to the sacrifice, showing the worship of the gods and spirits of the ancestors of Sanxingdui Ancient Shu from top to bottom, and the sacrificial behavior based on this worship has formed a fairly complete system. This worship of gods also became a source of inspiration for their casting of Sanxingdui bronzes, which are full of wonderful ingenuity and intricate intricacies.
▲Bronze statue part. Photo by Wang Lei
China News Agency: Why does the bronze statue reflect the close connection between the ancient Shu civilization and the Central Plains civilization?
Chen Dean: The beaded patterns and dragon patterns on the bronze statues first appeared in the Central Plains civilization, and the obvious sun god worship of the ancestors of Sanxingdui actually appeared as early as Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. Sanxingdui has many distinctive things that are quite related to the Central Plains civilization. Especially around 4800 years ago, the entire Central Plains civilization was in a period of great change and integration, which also had an impact on the ancient Shu civilization.
In fact, the appearance of Sanxingdui's unique tall bronzes, including bronze statues, has added a type of Chinese bronze civilization, and from the casting details, it can be clearly seen that it is closely related to the Central Plains civilization, reflecting the diversity and unity of Chinese civilization. At the same time, a large number of bronzes unearthed at the Sanxingdui site also reflect the casting skills and design creativity of the bronzes of the ancient Shu people, and have reached a new peak under the influence of Shang civilization.
▲Sanxingdui unearthed bronzes. Photo by Chen Wen
This peak is not only the peak of casting technology, but also the peak of artistic creation, which can be said to be the "swan song of the ages" in the ancient Shu civilization. Even today, to conduct research on bronze figures and even bronzes, Sanxingdui bronzes are unique cases and models in the world. (End)
Respondent Profile:
▲Chen Dean, researcher of Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the first station manager of Sanxingdui Site Workstation. Photo by Wang Lei
Chen De'an, a researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the first station manager of the Sanxingdui Site Workstation, began to work on the Sanxingdui site in 1980 and has been working for 42 years, and was the excavation leader of the No. 1 and No. 2 sacrificial pits of the Sanxingdui site in 1986.