【Beauty】
Gansu "cow" cultural relics on the Zodiac exhibition
Xin Xin Ru Shi
Warring States gilded bronze reclining bull-shaped plaque collection of the Pingliang City Museum
Eastern Han Dynasty Painted Wooden Oxcart Collection of Gaotai County Museum
As an important image symbol in traditional Chinese culture, the Zodiac is the mascot of the Spring Festival and the symbol of the traditional culture of the Year. In the New Year of the Ox, the Gansu Provincial Museum will hold the "Ox Turning Qiankun - Xin Ugly (Year of the Ox) New Year Zodiac Cultural Relics Picture Group Exhibition" on the first day of the Chinese New Year, the exhibition is jointly selected by the China Cultural Relics Newspaper more than 40 cultural institutions, selecting hundreds of "cow-themed" cultural relics, using interesting zodiac animals as mascots for the Spring Festival, adding spirituality and joy to the traditional culture, and presenting people with a "Cultural Relics New Year Gift".
The exhibition is mainly divided into four parts: the first part, "Zodiac Story", which reveals the origin and flow of the zodiac culture; the second part, "The Origin of the Cow Clan", which shows the rich variety of cattle in the natural world; the third part, "Five Cows Welcoming Spring", tells the farming culture, sacrifice culture, auspicious meaning, spiritual strength, and the cattle culture that contains deep meaning in the flood through spring cattle cultivation spring, sacred cow channeling, jiniu Nafu, cattle herding meaning, and copper cow town water; the fourth part, "Year of the Ox", through painting, paper cutting, sculpture, Folk crafts and other folk crafts show you folk legends, arts and crafts, and cattle in the financial bull market.
Cow in the Zodiac
In the life of Chinese, the zodiac sign can be described as everywhere. The Zodiac, also known as the Twelve Zodiac Signs, the Twelve Gods, the Twelve Genera or the Twelve Branches, consists of twelve animals, including rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs, and legendary dragons. The zodiac corresponds to the twelve branches of the dry branch year, and each zodiac sign corresponds to a year, with twelve years as a reincarnation.
At the same time, the zodiac also corresponds to the twelve months of the year, as well as the twelve hours of the day, which can be said to be the presence of the zodiac signs in the life of Chinese. The zodiac is said to have been established by the Yellow Emperor, the earliest documentary records can be traced back to the pre-Qin period, in the ancient cultural relics and artworks with the twelve zodiac as the theme of the work is numerous, of which the image of the cow in the zodiac, from murals to pottery figurines, from New Year paintings to paper-cutting, from jade to porcelain, everywhere.
As an important part of traditional Chinese culture, the formation of the Zodiac reflects the animal worship consciousness of early humans and reflects the friendly relationship between Chinese and animals. In addition, more people also use the zodiac as the mascot of the Spring Festival and become a symbol of the traditional culture of the Year.
From the time of its origin, the zodiac sign has been regarded as a symbol of people praying for peace and longevity. Each zodiac sign has a wealth of meanings and legends, such as: rats represent wisdom, cows represent diligence, tigers represent bravery, rabbits represent caution, dragons represent fortitude, snakes represent flexibility, horses represent indomitable progress, sheep represent harmony, monkeys represent flexibility, chickens represent stability, dogs represent loyalty, pigs represent easy-going, and so on.
Experience the "cow" culture
Due to the wide range of uses of cattle and their close relationship with people's production and life, the artistic image of cattle can be seen everywhere in life, and people have given cattle rich cultural connotations. On the land of China, there are many legends and allusions of the ancients praising cattle. In the spring, everything first sprouts, the cow breaks the ground in the spring, and the cow has a natural connection with the growth of all things. In the creation myths of many peoples, it is the cattle that break through the sleeping earth, awaken the seeds of life, and communicate between people and the ghosts and gods of heaven and earth. As one of the ancestors of the Chinese nation, Emperor Yandi's image in mythology is "cow head human body". Many festivals and legends related to cattle reflect people's worship of distant ancestor totems and good wishes for peace and long-term peace.
Not only that, the cow is also an important element in Chinese folk culture and folk art, and its character of perseverance, pioneering forward, benefiting the people, working hard and not being afraid of sacrifice has always been praised by people. In costumes, toys, paper-cutting, embroidery and other folk art and craft works, you can often see all kinds of various types, or three-dimensional or abstract cow images, implying and pinning people's ideals and expectations for a better life, and also giving people endless spiritual strength.
In China's long and long agricultural society, cattle occupy an extremely important position in production and life and customs. For thousands of years, niu Kong wu is powerful and able to shoulder heavy responsibilities, ploughing land, pulling carts, and carrying weights, providing irreplaceable help for human production and life; the selfless dedication and obscure character of cattle are also respected by the world; people regard cattle as a symbol of evil avoidance and auspiciousness. In the Zodiac, the cow corresponds to the "ugly" in the earth branch, implying diligence and strength. Out of love for cattle, the ancients chose the artistic image of cattle and widely used them in utensils, weapons, tools, utensils, musical instruments, and ornaments.
The colorful cattle relics provide us with important physical materials for understanding agriculture, religion, trade and folklore, and also open up a broad vision for us to discuss cultural exchanges.
The cattle enter the house in the spring, and the cattle are full of energy. Looking forward to the sowing of arable land, the transport of carrying and transporting, the majestic and mighty cattle, let you reminisce about the past years, the beauty of local nostalgia, and draw the spiritual strength of diligence and pragmatism and pioneering spirit in the festive celebrations of Nafu.
Gansu "cow" cultural relics
At this zodiac exhibition, the number of shortlisted candidates in our province is not only large, but also the cultural relics containing the cultural elements of Gansu's "cattle" can be described as highlights.
Early Quaternary Period (about 2.5 million years ago), Shorthorn Bull and Zheng Paleozoological Fossil Museum collection
The Hezheng Paleozoological Fossil Museum collects the quaternary early short-horned cattle fossils that take people into the natural world. Living in a highland cold environment, distributed in Eurasia, the lily cow is a branch of the early evolutionary history of cattle. The skull is low and narrow, and the limbs are slender. Female bulls have no horns, and males have thinner, sub-columnar horns. The angle base begins later in the orbit, the distance between the corner base and the orbital posterior edge is about equal to the length of the orbit itself, the lower edge of the horn is below the top surface of the occipital bone, and the horns extend backwards, separating each other to varying degrees.
Yuan Copper Yak Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County Museum Collection
The bronze yak of the Yuan Dynasty is the treasure of the Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County Museum. The cow's head is slightly extended, its eyes are round, its mouth and jaw are half open, its front back is raised, and its waist is slightly sunken. Thick neck and broad chest but not fat; small hips are short feet, and the four legs are smooth and firm. The hairy lines of the round tail are fine and neat, and the lines are clear and smooth, and the history is countable.
As a stone carving culture, petroglyphs are the use of stone tools by human ancestors to depict and record their production methods and life contents. China is not only the first country in the world to record rock paintings, but also one of the countries with the richest rock paintings in the world. In the rock paintings found in Gansu Province, the content describing the image of the cow is rich and colorful.
Silver Jingtai Wolf Cave Ditch Cow Image Rock Painting Silver City Museum Collection
Baiyin Jingtai Chenjiabagou cattle image rock paintings Collected by the Baiyin City Museum
The wolf cave ditch cattle image rock painting in the silver area has a large rock surface, chiseled from top to bottom with cattle, sheep and deer motifs, and the three are a vertical row. The image of the cow at the top adopts a single-line chiseling method, with broad limbs, a straight body, two bulges on the back, the cow's double horns are curved upwards, and the tail is thicker and upturned, resembling a bison. There is also a petroglyph of Chenjiabagou with a bull pattern carved into the lower left of the rock surface. The cow is larger, with a muscular body, an upturned tail, shaped like a circle, and the horns are pointed.
In the exhibition, the cow motifs in these petroglyphs, vivid images, reflect the unique way in which early ancestors recorded life.
Cattle are a common animal element decoration on bronzes in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and the cow pattern is often realistic, vivid and has some deity worship compared to other bronze ornaments. "Zuo Chuan Xuan Gong Three Years": "Cast the ding elephant object, so that the people know that the gods are treacherous... Use energy to cooperate with the upper and lower levels, in order to inherit the heavens. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, gods and ghosts were worshipped, heavy sacrifices, and witchcraft were performed, and several large bronzes were combined in a certain way into the "system of ritual music", as a symbol and symbol of royal power, status, and national prestige.
Western Zhou Dynasty, Gansu Provincial Museum Collection
The Gansu Provincial Museum holds the Western Zhou Dynasty Copper Lifting Beam, which has a barrel-shaped body and a lid, and the lid is topped with a circle-shaped catcher. Flat strip lifting beam, beam surface decorated with phoenix pattern, lifting beam two ends decorated with ox head, sleeve and body half ring button. The lid and the upper and lower parts of the body are decorated with a long crowned capuchin bird pattern, and there are several string patterns above and below the bird pattern; the upper part of the body is separated by a relief animal face. It is used similarly to a jug and is also a vessel for holding sake.
Warring States bronze gilt reclining cow bronze medal ornament Zhuanglang County Museum collection
Zhuanglang County Museum collection of Warring States copper gilt reclining bull bronze plaque ornaments, bronze plaque ornaments are rectangular, gilded, surrounded by oblique tooth patterns, carved on a bull with angry eyes, hooves, and curly tails, the two front legs of the cow are vigorously dug into the ground, the hind legs are strong, the tail is raised, the nostrils are expanded, the horns are erected, the ears are erect, the body is strong, and the cow is running in anger. The two bronze ornaments are symmetrical in opposite directions.
In addition to the bronze plaque ornaments, there are also gilded bronze reclining bull-shaped plaques of the Warring States period, and bronze belt hooks of the carved tiger yak. The Pingliang City Museum has gilded bronze reclining bull-shaped plaques, the cultural relics as a whole are made of cattle, the head of the cow is resting on the front hoof, the double horns are rounded, the tail is worn in a strip, and the four hooves are coiled. The spine, abdomen, and legs are hairy with thin diagonal lines. The front is gilded throughout, the back is concave, and the middle of the back is made of two beams, which are worn in strips. The cattle are fat and sleep peacefully.
China has been a big agricultural country since ancient times, and before machinery was invented, cattle were the farmers' "tractors", which greatly enhanced and extended people's hands. What the ancients called the land to be ugly is to open up to cattle; the so-called land is to cultivate land. As early as the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Chinese used cattle for ploughing, and by the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhao Guo, the governor of Sosu, created the "Daitian Method", which popularized cattle farming, and the status of cattle became more and more important, ranking first among the six animals, becoming an indispensable helper in people's production and life. In the agrarian society that has lasted for thousands of years, it is a close and kind friend of people, and people and cattle share weal and woe, work together, and pin their longing for a beautiful and stable life. To this day, some rural areas in China still have the traditional habit of ploughing fields with cattle. The phenomenon of farming cattle carrying farming culture has a long history and a long history.
Wei Jin Sowing Diagram Gaotai County Museum Collection
In the Spring Cow Ploughing Spring Series, many fine cultural relics of our province are exhibited. The Gaotai County Museum holds a "Sowing Map" portrait brick from the Wei and Jin dynasties, the left side of the picture depicts a man sowing seeds in the field, a black cow pulling a rake on the ground, and a man standing on the rake with a whip in his left hand and a rope in his right hand driving the overtone. The painting vividly reflects the scene of agricultural life in the Hexi region during the Wei and Jin dynasties.
Wei Jin ox cart travel map Gaotai County Museum collection
There is also a "Travel Map of an Oxcart" depicting a man driving a double-wheeled ox cart in front, the ox and wheels are black, and a woman with a bun, a red cross-collared top, and a long skirt underneath, with a tray in her left hand and a can in her right hand, following on foot. There is a tree on the left side of the picture, and a bird falls on the tree, and two birds are painted on the top of the picture. The picture reflects a leisurely travel scene.
Cave 25 of yulin caves in the Middle Tang Dynasty Cultivating crops Dunhuang Research Institute Collection
In the mural paintings of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, there are also many scenes reflecting the living of cultivated land, ox carts and so on.
Han carved cow painting bricks Collection of Qingyang Museum
A Han Dynasty "Carved Cow Painting Brick" in the Qingyang Museum is carved in the middle of a cow tied to a wooden stake, the head of the cow is raised, the limbs are standing, the tail is drooping, and the atmosphere of life is strong.
Han Gray Pottery Cow Jingchuan County Museum Collection
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the war was initially determined, the country was in ruins, the number of horses was insufficient, and ordinary people could only take an ox cart; after the "rule of Wenjing" to recuperate, the carriage did not become popular until after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In addition, in the Han Dynasty, the carriage ride was elaborate, and the passengers had to maintain a gentlemanly demeanor at all times, and the new scholar class also liked to use ox carts to get rid of restraints. Painted wooden ox carts, painted wooden oxen pulling plows, wooden ox caravans, pottery ox carts, gray pottery cattle... The pieces represent the humanistic features of different historical periods.
Tang Sancai Liniu Collection of Gansu Provincial Museum
In the Tang Dynasty, sancai sculptures were popular, and the sancai standing bull collected by the Gansu Provincial Museum is a representative of a fine cultural relic. The cow body is glazed with brown. The head stands tall, the short horns are extended horizontally, the eyes are rounded, the neck is thick and short, and the tail is drooping, standing. The cattle are muscular and robust.
Ming Copper Rhino Wangyue Zhenyuan County Museum Collection
Zhenyuan County Museum a Piece of Ming Dynasty Bronze Rhinoceros Looking at the Moon, the cow looks back, the head has a single horn, lying down, the right leg is extended forward, the left leg is kneeling, the form is vivid and vivid.
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The appearance of the "cow" cultural relics in the exhibition not only shows the treasures of the "cow" element in the zodiac from different angles in the collections of various generations in various parts of our province, but also presents the rich connotation of the year of the ox.