A total of five pieces of Zhongqiu Sacred Beasts (locally known as Pegasus and Four Different) were unearthed in Neiqiu County. Neiqiu County was called Zhongqiu in ancient times, so it was called Zhongqiu Divine Beast. Most of the sacred beasts are from the Han and Tang Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which are large mausoleum town tomb beasts, and are still preserved in Nanyang, Henan and Nanjing, Jiangsu. There are as many as five pieces in the territory of a county in the north of Neiqiu, which not only fills the gap of the stone carved sacred beasts in Hebei, but also is rare in the whole country. The Zhongqiu Sacred Beast is of great significance for studying the distribution of ancient tomb beasts in northern China, the evolution of shapes, as well as the ancient pre-mausoleum stone carving art and funerary system.
There are two types of Zhongqiu Divine Beasts: Tianlu Divine Beasts and Fuba Divine Beasts.
Tianlu Divine Beast, there are four pieces, belonging to the Han Heng Emperor Yanxi period (158-166 years) or later period stone carving treasures, for the present-day Dameng village Shifang Village and Wu village around the Han Dynasty tomb town tomb beast. Before the "July 7 Incident" in 1937, foreigners bought each piece of 400 oceans and wanted to transport it from the Guanzhuang Station in Neiqiu, and the local people heard the news and intercepted it. Unfortunately, three national treasures have been transported, and only one has been intercepted. Of the three pieces that were transported, two are now in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA, and one is in the Gemmitt Museum in Paris, France (note that it was excavated from Neiqiu, Henan Province, China, and should be excavated in Neiqiu County, Hebei Province). One of the intercepted pieces was buried deep in the ground of Shifang Village by the local people. In 1952, when farmers in Shifang Village cultivated land, they were found to be buried and protected on the spot with the approval of the Hebei Provincial Cultural Management Commission. Later, due to the unclear signs, it could not be found for half a century. In 1999, Shifang Village was relocated to the new village, and in the process of leveling the new foundation, this treasure was found about 500 meters northwest of the old village, and later treasured in the Bian Que Temple as the treasure of the town temple.
The extant Eastern Han Dynasty Tianlu Divine Beast, made of local bluestone (limestone), is huge in size and weighs up to one ton. The height is 1.4 meters, the length is 1.8 meters, and the width is 0.9 meters. The head resembles a tiger and a dragon, brave and fierce; the lion and tiger body, which is incomparably strong; has phoenix-like wings, a chin beard and a long whisker hanging in front of the chest, and a horn on the head (which has been disabled) is a typical characteristic of the Tianlu Divine Beast. Tianlu, in ancient times, "Lu" and "deer" agreed, and the ancients liked to compare "deer" to "Lu". Because "Lu" marks the lu position and celebration. To this day, the deer is still used in folk Paintings to symbolize Lu. The unicorn "pretends to be mysterious". The beast's eyes were wide open, its body was strong, and its posture was evocative. The divine beast walked in a big walking shape, mighty and free, fierce and fierce, and eager to leap forward. The whole takes movement as the main purpose, through the wonderful combination of circular carving and relief lines, the rhythmic line beauty and decorative line beauty are arranged in an orderly manner, reflecting a sense of open expansion of movement and the overall rhythmic sense of movement, showing the release and condensation of force. The superb stone carving skills of the late Eastern Han Dynasty in China are fully reflected in this treasure. These superb stone carving treasures of the late Eastern Han Dynasty have had a major impact on the artistic modeling of Xingbai porcelain in Neiqiu and the art of Shenji, which is known as the living fossil of woodblock prints, and also provides rare empirical materials for the study of Chinese art history.
Rune Beast. On October 31, 2003, on the north bank of the Xiaoma River, 3 kilometers south of Neiqiu County, on the west side of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, when the local people were pulling sand, they found the body of a sacred beast, which was stolen by cultural relics dealers that night, and on November 31, the cultural relics dealers were arrested in Ningjin County, and the cultural relics dealers had spent 100,000 yuan to restore the sacred beasts, and the hornless head was a rune-pulling divine beast. The restored mythical beast is 1.25 meters long, 0.37 meters wide and 1.1 meters high, and its volume is very similar to that of a real adult leopard. It is also made of local bluestone. According to the preliminary identification of experts as a thing from the Northern Wei Dynasty, judging from the characteristics of the shape, it is very similar to the image characteristics of the Eastern Han Dynasty Fuba Divine Beast. The Fu ba Divine Beast was much inferior in both shape and carving art compared to the Tianlu Divine Beast. This sacred beast is also treasured in the Bian Que Temple.
As a mysterious animal that can resist evil, the sacred beast mainly prevailed during the Han and Tang Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and was generally used for large mausoleums as town tomb beasts, playing a role in defending the mausoleum and driving away evil spirits, and also symbolizing the honor and wealth of the tomb owner. Most of the princes and nobles only placed this object in front of the mausoleum.
The general characteristics of the divine beast are the body of a lion and tiger, with tiger and leopard stripes on the body and wings of a phoenix. There is a chin beard under the chin, the one horn is Tianlu, the double horn is to avoid evil, and the hornless is to avoid evil, which is collectively called avoiding evil. Originating from the ancient Persian Dynasty, the sacred beast was combined with Chinese art when the Han and Tang Dynasties were introduced and developed creatively, becoming a famous evil repellent and mascot since the Han and Tang Dynasties in China. This mysterious animal, symbolized as a refuge from demons and evil spirits, is mostly found in the ruins of the Six Dynasties of the Han and Wei Dynasties, and is now also the emblem of Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. Bronze sacred beasts have been excavated in the tombs of kings in Zhongshan, Hebei Province, and there are no records of stone carved sacred beasts unearthed in various parts of Hebei Province today.
According to historical records, there was a Heavenly Lu Divine Beast in front of the tomb of the Han Ling Emperor. Next to the Monument of the Eastern Han Dynasty (present-day northern Nanyang County), one is Tianlu (one corner) and the other is to avoid evil (two corners), which is now treasured in the Henan Provincial Museum. In front of the tomb of Emperor Wen of song of the Southern Dynasty, there are Tianlu and evil beasts. In the territory of Neiqiu in northern China, there are five sacred beasts, which is rare in history. Two of the sacred beasts were the town tomb beasts of Zhang Feiyan's tomb. Zhang Feiyan was the leader of the Montenegrin Army, a peasant rebel army. Capture of the Inner Hills Montenegro, known as the millions. When Cao Cao was in Jizhou, Bai Zhang was made the general of Pingbei and the Marquis of An Guoting. He was buried in the black mountain (present-day Qingshan) in the eastern eight mile (Wu village). The old records of Neiqiu County and the old records of Shunde Province both record: "The tomb of Feiyan, in the west of WuCun, is commonly known as the rolling table. "If Zhang Feiyan was enthroned before his death, and his subordinates built a large mausoleum for him and placed it in the Town of Divine Beasts, then whose tomb were the other two Tianlu Divine Beasts in the present-day Shifang Village?" Whose Tomb Beast was the Tomb Beast that was unearthed later? According to the Kao Xiaoma River, which was rerouted by the Construction of the Pinghan Railway (present-day Beijing-Guangzhou Railway) in the first year of the Republic of China, the Fuba Divine Beast is not a river rush. Therefore, the other three different divine beasts of Neiqiu may also come from the tombs of some princes. In addition, the Phoenix Village in the south of Neiqiu City and the Zhongfengdong Village in the northwest of the city have also found fragments of stone carved divine beasts, and their ornamentation is similar to the above five divine beasts. If so, There may also be a stone-carved divine beast in Neiqiu. The history of Chaneqiu records that in addition to the well-preserved tomb of Later Zhao Zhangbin, no prince was buried in Neiqiu during the Han and Tang Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and as the capital of Sui and Tang porcelain, Neiqiu (where the Xing kiln is located) This feng shui treasure land, the birthplace of Chinese white porcelain, whether there are other princes buried in Neiqiu, this is another historical mystery.
The county government transported the sacred beast stone carvings to the Bian Que Temple for protection, and were identified by experts as national second-class cultural relics. According to the picture comparison, the extant sacred beast happens to be a male and female pair with the sacred beast collected by the Gemmit Museum in Paris, France.
Photo: Liu Jidong
Author: Han Qiuchang
Editor: Yan Miaomiao
Review: Cui Cheng, Wang Ning, Liang Jizhou
Submission email: [email protected]
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