Research on the ancient history of Zhenzhitang: The bronze civilization of the Shang Dynasty was extremely developed. The most important civilizations are, of course, concentrated in the area of Yinxu in Anyang, Henan. However, there was also a glorious bronze civilization in the Jiangnan region of the Shang Dynasty, and the most outstanding representative is naturally the site of Xingan Oceania in Jiangxi.
The picture above shows the Shang Dynasty bronze standing bird two-tailed tiger unearthed at the site. Experts and scholars speculate based on the cultural relics unearthed at the site that there was a Fang country in the south of the Shang Dynasty, which may be the tiger fang mentioned in the oracle bone inscription.
"Oracle Bone Conjugation Edition" VIII: "Zhen: Destiny and Hope (And) Yu (Tu) Tiger Fang, November." ”
Coincidentally, the Freer Museum of Art in the United States also has a pair of bronze tigers, which the museum recognizes as cultural relics of the Shang Dynasty. That is, the pair of bronze tigers shown in the picture above.
Research on the ancient history of Zhenzhitang: This pair of bronze tigers looks at the ornaments and shapes, and it should not be a big problem to identify them as cultural relics of the Shang Dynasty in China. But if we look closely at this pair of bronze tigers, we will find that it is very different from the bronze tigers unearthed in Xingan Oceania, Jiangxi.
Why is there such a big gap between the same Shang Dynasty bronzes? Is the Jiangxi Xingan Oceania site really a Shang Dynasty tiger fang?
Jiangxi's era of the big tiger was the middle of the Shang Dynasty. The pair of tigers in the American collection has not been determined which period of the Shang Dynasty it is. When we compare these three artifacts, it is clear that there is a huge difference.
First, the body of the bronze tiger in the American collection is very long, mainly because the neck is much longer than that of a normal natural tiger. The proportions of the bronze tiger in Oceania are harmonious, and there is not much difference from the real tiger.
Second, Oceania, this bronze tiger. The tiger's four paws are prostrate. This form of composition was more common in the middle and late Shang Dynasty during the reign of King Wuding, and the picture below shows the round carved jade tiger unearthed from the tomb of the Yinxu woman, and we can see that this tiger is very similar to the Xingan Oceania tiger. The difference is that there is no standing bird on the tiger's body, and there is only one tiger tail. And the United States is standing on all fours. When we look at it from the side, we can see a huge difference between the three tigers.
Thirdly, the bronze tiger head of the Xinkan Oceania tiger is relatively flat, and the ears are round. The bronze tiger head in the American collection is relatively three-dimensional, and the ears are triangular. The new dry bronze tiger has a pair of eyebrows. The American tiger also has eyebrows, a high nose and deep eyes. Under normal circumstances, natural tigers do not have this pair of humanoid eyebrows. The most important thing is that the new tiger has relatively normal tusks, while the American tiger has a pair of wild boar tusks. This is something that has never been seen in the wild tigers.
Research on the Ancient History of Zhenzhitang: If you look at this picture, the wild boar's tooth is so long, the same as the bronze tiger in the American museum. Is there such a toothy tiger in nature?
There are no similar tiger pictures at the moment.
Fourth, the lower abdomen of the Jiangxi Xingan Bronze Tiger is empty, so it is not a utilitarian vessel, but a furnishing vessel. And this pair of bronze tigers in the collection of the Freer Museum of Art in the United States, judging from the pictures, there are two square openings on the back, indicating that it should be a container. That is, a wine vessel. It belongs to the first class of drinking vessels.
Research on the ancient history of Zhenzhitang: 兕觥 (sigong) ancient wine vessels, with oval or square abdomen, circle-footed or four-legged, with flow and fang. The lid is generally in the shape of a horned beast's head. It was prevalent in the Shang Dynasty and the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Later, it also refers to wine vessels.
兕 sì, generally believed to be a rhinoceros.
兕, like a bison and green, pictogram. - "Sayings"
Uncle Tang shot at Tulin. ——"Chinese and Jin Language"
He lived for 200 years. ——"Examination of the Work: Correspondence"
The bronze ware is mostly a gouge, because the cow-shaped is more common, while the tiger-shaped is not seen in real life. In the pre-Qin era, tigers and tigers were often used together.
"The Analects of Ji" recorded: "Confucius said: 'The tiger is out of the sheng, and the turtle and jade are destroyed in the coffin, whose fault is it?'
Research on the ancient history of Zhenzhitang: Therefore, the bronze tiger of the Freer Museum of Art should actually be a "tiger-shaped tiger", which is a very rare surviving unique tiger.
"Poetry" cloud: 'Bandits and tigers, lead the wilderness. '
"Lao Tzu": "Gai Wenshan is a survivor, he will not meet a tiger on land, and he will not be a soldier when he joins the army." ”
Here comes the problem again. After the name of this pair of bronze tigers was corrected, why was its image so strange, and the tiger also had a pair of wild boar tusks? From the shape and ornamentation, can it be inferred that it belongs to the early Shang period, the middle period or the late period?
Research on the ancient history of Zhenzhitang: Is it a mistake to break the age of this pair of bronze tigers with such a long body?
The image of the jade tiger in the Spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in the picture below is very similar to the bronze tiger in the American collection, but its age is determined by experts to be the Spring and Autumn period, at least 300 years later than the Shang Dynasty.
But the Shang Dynasty did have this kind of jade tiger cultural relics with an old neck, and the Shang Dynasty jade tiger in the picture below is also an unearthed cultural relic. We can see the image of this jade tiger, except that there are no wild boar teeth, the neck and body parts are very similar to the bronzes in the American collection.
Therefore, it is certain that this pair of bronzes in the American collection is indeed a Shang Dynasty artifact.
But why is there such a big difference between the Jiangxi Xingan unearthed ware and the bronze tiger, which are both Shang Dynasty tigers? This question is worth pondering.
Research on the ancient history of Zhenzhitang: Let's take a look at the early bronze tiger of the Western Zhou Dynasty unearthed in Baoji, Shaanxi. From the image point of view, this bronze tiger is more similar to the bronze tiger unearthed in Xingan Oceania, Jiangxi.
It is said that the bronze tiger unearthed in Baoji in the early Western Zhou Dynasty was made under the influence of the Jiangxi Shanghu, so it should not be a big problem.
epilogue
Zhenzhitang's research concluded that the short-torso tiger should be the standard tiger image in the middle of the Shang Dynasty, that is, in the Baijiazhuang period in Zhengzhou. Jiangxi Xingan Oceania, the ancient kingdom of Xinjiang, lost direct contact with the Shang Dynasty after the Shang Dynasty lost the capital of Zhengzhou and was forced to move its capital. The merchant army that stayed in Xingan established itself independently, so there was the so-called Hufang State.
After the Shang Dynasty entered the late Shang period of Chaoge (Yinxu), there was a dragon-shaped tiger with a huge body, and the wild boar fangs on the jaws of the American bronze tigers actually showed the image of dragon teeth. The jade tiger in the tomb of the National Museum in the picture below is actually a jade dragon, and the dragon horns on the head and the tiger body are combined, which is a new type of instrument that appeared in the Wuding period.
In other words, in the late Shang Dynasty, the image of the tiger and the dragon became closer and closer. It is mainly manifested by the elongation of the body. There is a clear difference from normal tigers. The bronze tiger in the Freer Museum of Art is very likely to have come from the tomb of the Yin Ruin King of the Shang Dynasty, and was owned by the Shang King in the late Shang Dynasty.
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