In 2023, the Lunar New Year means the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac! Rabbits are smart and cute, docile and have been loved by Chinese people since ancient times. In ancient times, rabbits were regarded as auspicious beasts, often appearing in various myths and stories, and were given many beautiful meanings such as longevity and auspiciousness. Jade, bronze, porcelain, paintings and other artifacts from ancient rabbit shapes often appear in people's daily lives. On January 25th, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, let's take a look at what cute rabbits are hidden in the museum.
Jin'an – National Museum of China
During the Spring Festival in the Year of the Rabbit, the National Museum of China carefully selected more than 80 pieces (sets) of cultural relics in its collection to launch the "Lu Yu Jin'an - 2023 New Year Exhibition". The cultural relics displayed in this exhibition from the Shang Dynasty to the early 20th century, covering jade, porcelain, bronze, stone, bone horn and tooth ware, calligraphy, painting and other material cultural remains. Among them, many jade rabbit ornaments from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty are either running or falling, sitting or serving, and can be cute; The light blue-glazed brown spotted porcelain rabbit of the Tang Dynasty and the green jade rabbit of the Yuan Dynasty come alive; The white jade double rabbit ear cup of the Ming Dynasty shows the ingenuity of craftsmen of different eras, and is an example of the resonance of traditional craftsmanship and the pulse of the times.
Zodiac terracotta figurines Tang
It is worth mentioning that the head of the rabbit, one of the bronze statues of the Chinese zodiac in the Western Building of the Old Summer Palace, was also unveiled in this exhibition. According to reports, the bronze statues of the Chinese zodiac represent the twelve hours of a day and night, and every hour, the bronze statue of the zodiac representing this hour automatically spits out the fountain from the mouth. At noon, twelve bronze statues spew spring water from their mouths at the same time. The bronze statue of the Chinese zodiac with water chimes is the essence of Haiyan Hall and is famous all over the world.
On January 18, Beijing, visitors view the rabbit head of Haiyan Hall in the Old Summer Palace on display at the National Museum of China
White jade double rabbit ear cup Ming
Jade Rabbit Spirit - Shanghai Museum Year of the Rabbit Spring Exhibition
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit, Shanghai Museum selected 5 cultural relics from its collection, and borrowed 2 cultural relics from Shanxi Museum and Quzhou Museum to hold the "Jade Rabbit Spirit - Shanghai Museum Year of the Rabbit Spring Festival Exhibition". There are 7 exhibits in this exhibition. The lobby on the first floor exhibits 6 cultural relics, including the rabbit statue of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the double rabbit car scale ornament, the white-glazed rabbit of the Tang Dynasty, the green jade rabbit paperweight of the Southern Song Dynasty, the crystal rabbit of the Yuan Dynasty and the jade rabbit branch god of the Qing Dynasty; The Past Dynasties Painting Museum on the third floor exhibits the axis of "Three Rabbits of Ladies" by Qing Dynasty painter Yu Zhiding .
Among them, the rabbit statue of the Western Zhou Dynasty was unearthed in 1992 in the Jin Marquis Cemetery M8 in Beizhao Village, Quwo County, and is now in the Shanxi Museum. The shape of the rabbit is rare in bronze. In the Jin Marquis Cemetery, there are several bronze rabbit statues buried as ceremonial vessels, and they are of different sizes and shapes, which are spectacle. Leaf-like residues have been found inside such artifacts, which may have been used to make sake or filter wine lees, indicating that the rabbit statue is believed to be an ancient wine vessel.
Rabbit Zun Western Zhou
The Qingyutu paperweight of the Southern Song Dynasty was unearthed in 1974 in the joint tomb of the 10th Shi Zhengzu and his step-chamber Yang in the Xianchun Dynasty of the Southern Song Dynasty, and is now in the Quzhou City Museum. The rabbit-shaped paperweight is carved from Hetian green jade circle, lying down, with both ears softly attached to the back, and short and thin lines carved on the abdomen and legs, which seem to be the soft hair of a rabbit. The three small lips and the beard carved on both sides seem to tremble slightly.
Green Jade Rabbit paperweight Southern Song Dynasty
In ancient China, the white rabbit was often seen as a sign of good luck. The white-glazed rabbit of the Tang Dynasty, 9.7 cm high and 7.9 cm in bottom diameter, is covered with transparent white glaze all over the body, with a rounded shape and full of Tang wind. And because rabbits are cute and well-behaved, rabbit-themed works in ancient paintings are common. "Lady Three Rabbit Scroll" This painting is a cluster of stones and trees, beautiful ladies, sitting alone and watching rabbits. Hairless, modal.
Qing dynasty painter Yu Zhiding "Three Rabbits of Ladies" axis
Double rabbit scale
White-glazed rabbit Tang dynasty
Crystal Rabbit Yuan dynasty
Jade Rabbit Branch God Qing Dynasty
Auspicious rabbit treasure - Sichuan Museum
During the Spring Festival, the Sichuan Museum launched the "Auspicious Rabbit Treasure - Lu Yu Rabbit Year Zodiac Theme Cultural Relics Exhibition". The exhibition has 43 pieces / sets of rabbit culture theme cultural relics, including 16 first-class cultural relics. Including the Eastern Han and Western Queen Mother Jade Rabbit Pounding Medicine Portrait Brick, the Song Dynasty Zodiac Hour Bronze Mirror, the "Wang Jian Rabbit First Treasure", "Night Moon Bright Thousand Miles Heart" rabbit-shaped button print, zodiac animal pattern brocade and other cultural relics unearthed in the tomb of Wang Jian in the western suburbs of Chengdu.
"Night Moon Bright Thousand Miles Heart" rabbit-shaped button print
Bronze mirror of the hour of the zodiac
A pair of blue and white rabbit lid jars from the Ming Dynasty are interesting, in addition to painting children's babies playing white rabbits, the bottom of the jar is also painted with a blue-glazed white rabbit pattern as a drop model. In the Qing Dynasty, there was no style of flowers, fruits, and jade rabbit landscape books, and the image of the white rabbit was vivid and realistic.
Blue and white rabbit lid jar of the Ming Dynasty
"Wang Jian Rabbit First Treasure" unearthed from Wang Jian's tomb in the western suburbs of Chengdu
Eastern Han and Western Queen Mother Jade Rabbit pounding medicine portrait brick
Futu Welcoming Spring – Nanjing Six Dynasties Museum
In traditional Chinese culture, rabbits are auspicious and jubilant animals, and there are many legends about rabbits among the people, which symbolize people's yearning for a better life. 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in the lunar calendar, Nanjing Six Dynasties Museum launched a zodiac exhibition, and rabbit cultural relics were unveiled to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
The exhibition focuses on the rabbit image cultural relics and cultural relics containing "rabbit" cultural elements in the collection of Nanjing Museum. Porcelain rabbits, jade rabbits, onyx rabbits of previous dynasties... The cute appearance and active personality of the rabbit are vividly expressed. Among them, a Ming Dynasty green-glazed rabbit female terracotta figurine is a zodiac figurine, full of affinity and life atmosphere.
Experts say that this practice of holding the head of a zodiac animal or a human zodiac animal has a long tradition of expressing the zodiac, and as early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was common to use the zodiac to refer to the birth year of a person.
Zodiac figurines
In addition, there are two famous pieces of porcelain in history in the exhibition - the Song Dynasty kiln rabbit milli lamp. Experts introduced that this black-glazed porcelain in the firing process, the bubbles produced in the glaze layer bring the iron in it to the glaze, when fired above 1300 ° C, the glaze layer flows, the iron-containing part flows into stripes, shaped like the fur on the rabbit, commonly known as "rabbit milli", porcelain hence the name. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the official court prevailed in the style of fighting tea, which was popular for a time with a thick carcass and a dark glaze, especially the "rabbit milli lamp". Cai Xiang's "Tea Record" has clouds: "Rabbit is purple and new, crab eye clear spring boiled." ”
The Song Dynasty built a kiln rabbit milli lamp
Edited by Xie Tingting Comprehensive