When it comes to Marilyn Monroe, everyone will immediately think of her wearing a white dress, the wind blows her skirt, in order to prevent it from going light, Marilyn Monroe smiled and pressed the skirt, this action was frozen, and she became a cinnabar mole and white moonlight in the hearts of many people.
Marilyn Monroe
So the question is, why is there no Marilyn Monroe in China? For this reason, Brother Bao conducted a "serious" scientific study.
It stands to reason that China has not lacked beauties since ancient times, and China naturally has no shortage of strong winds, so where is the problem? Looking through various ancient paintings and documents, Brother Bao has found the answer!
Ming Qiu Ying, "Spring Dawn in the Han Palace" part
Do you see the problem from the picture? Is it because the skirt of an ancient Chinese beauty is too long? No matter how long the skirt is, it is afraid of the wind.
Attentive friends may have discovered that the beauties in the picture basically have a string of jewelry hanging around their waists, which is the key to the problem.
Illustration of the costumes of ladies of the Han Dynasty
Yu to Pei
Jade / Group / Pei
The scenery of the waist of the ancients
As we all know, the Chinese have the habit of admiring jade since ancient times, and the so-called "gentleman does not go to jade without reason", and the concept of worshipping jade has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people since the pre-Qin period.
In addition to playing a decorative role, the jade group wear, which is pinned to the waist of the ladies, can also be used to press the skirt to prevent the dress from swinging at will and affect the elegance, and remind women to behave soothing and beautiful.
The jade group pei popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period is usually composed of crescent-shaped huang, connecting walls or rings, and then decorated with silk ropes of different colors to connect beads.
Spring and Autumn Jade Group Pei Shandong Museum Collection
Similar shapes of the group pendant also appeared on the painted lacquer carved wooden figurines unearthed in Henan, the wooden figurines were painted with jade rings and jade huang, and the middle was decorated with beads to form a group pendant.
Painted lacquer carved wooden figurines M2 of Chu tomb in Xinyang, Henan Province was unearthed
In order not to make the skirt spread out and affect the beauty, women in the Song Dynasty often hung a ribbon made of ribbon in the middle of the skirt, tied a ring knot in the middle, and strung a jade ring jade pendant, which was called "jade ring ribbon", which was used to suppress the skirt and prevent it from being blown up by the wind and losing its manners.
Yuan Yongle Palace Sanqing Hall murals
These jade ornaments, like men's jade pendants, will strike each other when moving, making a sound of "Ding Ding Dangdang", and people in the Ming Dynasty named it "Ding Dang (玎珰)"
This kind of Lingjue generally appears in pairs, the white jade cloud-like Lingjue in the early Ming Dynasty literature, the top is decorated with gold hooks and the bottom is the golden Ruyi cloud cover, and then there are four pieces of gold long-headed flowers and a small golden bell, the end of the silk thread is decorated with five white jade clouds, the ornaments are less, and they are decorated on the long silk group, which seems to be a little sparse.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the white jade cloud was like a dazzling cloud
Yu Jin Bu
Jade / forbidden / step
The appearance comes with BGM
On the basis of the white jade cloud-like Xuanjue, the late Ming Dynasty continued to enrich the details of the decoration, and the jade pieces on the silk group gradually increased, and finally the shape was a combination of multiple rows of jade leaves and various small jade pendants and jade beams.
The long jade group wears people to walk as slowly as possible, firstly, because the jewelry around the waist is getting more and more bulky, and secondly, the jade pendant will make a sound when it collides, and it will mess up the atmosphere if you go too fast, so in the late Ming Dynasty, this jade group is called "jade forbidden step", and the jade forbidden step unearthed from the tomb of King Liangzhuang in Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province is the representative of the jade group in the late Ming Dynasty.
The tomb of King Liangzhuang unearthed jade forbidden step Hubei Provincial Museum collection
According to research, this kind of jade forbidden step was also rewarded to the concubine by the emperor as a token of love, and the ornaments on the group have auspicious meanings: the leaf refers to the "golden branch and jade leaf"; the melon has the meaning of the prosperity of the descendants; "the mandarin duck becomes a pair", "the joy of fish and water" contains the sweetness of love, and the pomegranate and the peach contain "many sons and many blessings", "longevity and peace".
Empress Ming Xiaojing's jade forbidden step
When the style of the jade group is becoming more and more complex, in addition to being used to press the skirt, it also has an important role - to show identity.
In fact, this is also the social attribute of jade pendant since ancient times, different jade pendants symbolize different classes, and strictly maintain social order. The jade group is based on the difference in material, group ribbon and complexity to express the difference in grade.
Mingyu forbidden step Qichun Museum collection
The higher the status, the longer and more complicated the jade group wears, and the corresponding jade group with low status is simple and short.
The Son of Heaven wears a white jade and a Xuanguo ribbon, the prince Peishan Xuanyu and Zhu a ribbon, the doctor wears a water cangyu and a pure ribbon, the prince Peiyu jade and a silk ribbon, and Shi Pei Yu and a silk ribbon.
- "The Book of Rites: Tamamo"
This phenomenon is related to the gait flaunted among the aristocracy at that time, who believed that people with high status and status, the smaller the steps and the slower the walk, the more outstanding the temperament.
The ancients often used beautiful jade as a metaphor for a gentleman, and even a specific sense of hearing, "its voice is soothing, dedicated to hearing from afar, and the wisdom of the prescription is also", that is, the sound of the collision of jade pendants is stretched and melodious, just like the wisdom of a gentleman, benefiting the four fields.
What's even more exaggerated is that the nobles are required to play the soundtracks of the poems "Cai Qi" and "Wanton Summer" respectively when trotting and walking, probably this is the so-called appearance with its own BGM, right?
In the eyes of the ancients, women need more dignified demeanor than men, and the pace must not be too hasty, when the beautiful women wearing the jade group wear come towards us, the sound of jingle between their steps can arouse the beauty of infinite rhyme, which is the topic of ancient literati competing to chant.
The portrait of Mao Siyi's wife Liu in the Ming Dynasty is painted with a tangible standard of "jade forbidden step"
The jade group was passed down through the dynasties and formed a custom in the Ming Dynasty, but the Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty were abolished because the heavy group of jade pendants hindered riding and shooting.
Although there was no soil for Marilyn Monroe in ancient China, major brands are now borrowing elements from Chinese jade groups to use in clothing design, such as the Italian brand "Cavoli" launched a beautiful emerald ring tassel necklace in the autumn and winter of 2013.
Italian brand "Cavoli"
The so-called cultural self-confidence, that is, China does not necessarily need Marilyn Monroe, Chinese culture with the deepest and most lasting spiritual strength, highlighting the trend of "high gorge out of Pinghu".
It is worth noting that the traditional impression of the jade group is real jade, but there is also a considerable part of jade-like glass in Chinese history, and the main piece of the jade group unearthed in the ancient tomb of the Warring States Period in Hunan - Bi, many of them are glassware, but they are not simple glassware.
Warring States Glass
Some special ingredients in ancient Chinese glass can not only play the role of flux, but also improve the refraction and plasticity of glass, increase luster, and obtain a jade-like effect. Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty once compared glass with real jade and came to the conclusion that "the Taoist refined the five stones to make the five-colored jade, compared with the real jade, the light is not different." "Imitation jade glass looks like jade, but has a brighter luster than jade.
Although the luster of imitation jade glass on the unearthed cultural relics has long been dimmed, you can see the super-large jade glazed artwork with your own eyes in the treasure house ingenuity museum, poke ☞ it in the glass world and hear the light, and immediately buy tickets to check in the same jade glaze of the Warring States period.