Chapter 1,355 Coiling Dragon, Coiling Dragon, Hidden in the Mirror
The appearance of the bronze mirror in Chen Wenzhe's hand undoubtedly solved an eternal mystery and confirmed the true existence of this type of imperial tribute mirror.
"Is this really Tang Jing? How is it possible?"
Chen Wenzhe carefully examined this mirror and compared it with a Tang mirror he knew. Is this true?
The image of the beast button on the mirror is a green dragon on the left, a white tiger on the right, a red bird on the top, and a basalt on the bottom.
The four gods are paired with the hexagrams Kun, Xun, Qian, Kan, Zhen, Gen, Dui and Li. This is the typical shape of Jiangxin mirror.
The most important thing is that there is an inscription on it, but what is engraved on it is not the simplest Yangshi Jiangxin Mirror, but the words Jiangxin Longjing.
There are a lot of inscriptions on this mirror, but Chen Wenzhe didn't recognize much of the writing at first, and the refining time seemed wrong.
No, the real legendary Jiangxin Mirror should be the time when this mirror was made?
The inscription on this mirror reads: "The dragon mirror was made by a hundred refinements in the center of the river on May 5, the first year of the Qianyuan year of the Tang Dynasty."
This kind of inscription has appeared before, even on the sunken ship Blackstone, which also had a mirror like this, but the inscription was different.
The mirror in Chen Wenzhe's hands now has a very different inscription from the Tang mirror on the Black Stone.
Yangshi Jiangxinjing is very famous, but not many have been seen. Only it was later salvaged from a sunken ship in the Tang Dynasty.
However, that mirror is hidden in the Lijiapo Asian Civilizations Museum.
It is 1.4 cm high and 21.2 cm in diameter. It is hidden in the Khoo Teck Puat Exhibition Hall of the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore.
These shipwreck relics from the Tang Dynasty were purchased with donations from the Khoo Teck Puat Heritage Fund to commemorate the late Mr. Khoo Teck Puat.
If there is anything different from what Chen Wenzhe discovered now, it is the inscription.
This mirror hidden in Lijiapo has an inscription in regular script on the outermost circle: "It was built at Bailian in the middle of the Yangtze River in Yangzhou on November 29, 1898, in the first year of Qianyuan of the Tang Dynasty."
The Jiangxin Mirror is a tribute mirror from the Tang Dynasty, and its record can be found in "Taiping Guangji·Li Shoutai".
"On the 15th day of the fifth lunar month in the third year of Tianbao's reign in the Tang Dynasty, when Yangzhou entered the water, it looked like a mirror. It was nine inches long and horizontal, and the green light shone in the sun... At noon on the 5th day of the lunar month, it was cast in the Yangtze River."
The mirror in Lijiapo also has an inscription that says, "It was created by a hundred refinements in the heart of the Yangtze River."
This coincides with what is recorded in the literature, and it is clear that this mirror is the "Jiangxin Mirror" that Yangshi paid tribute to.
The Yangshi tribute mirror shows that Yangshi was one of the important mirror casting centers in the Tang Dynasty.
This river-centred mirror from the sunken ship of the Black Rock is the only physical evidence seen so far that has a clear date and is consistent with the documentary records.
The round Five Mountains Mountain Water Mirror, which is also in the collection of the Ugly Seattle Art Museum and the Neon Osaka Private Collection, has the four-character inscription "Five Days in the River" in the surrounding water waves. It can be said to be another form of the river-centred mirror.
However, the Jiang Xinjing in the real historical legend is different from these, and is similar to the side discovered by Chen Wenzhe.
Why do you say that? Because there are detailed records in "The Collection of Strange News".
"Collection of Strange News" records: During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, Yangshi entered the river center mirror, also known as the water center mirror.
When the mirror was being cast, an old man with white hair and white clothes was guarding the dragon. A young boy with black hair and black clothes, Xuan Ming, jumped into the furnace and spent three days in the middle of the river to refine it into a coiled dragon mirror.
The old man left a plain calligraphy saying: "Emperor Kaiyuan has psychic powers, and I send him blessings. This mirror can ward off evil spirits and discern all things. The mirror of Emperor Qin cannot be better." The song goes: Coiling dragon, coiling dragon, hidden in the mirror
.There are images in the divisions, and the changes are endless. The clouds and mist are rising, the rain is making the wind. Fairy of the Supreme Purity, please give me your holy congratulations."
The second volume of "Supplement to the History of the Tang Dynasty" by Li Zhao of the Tang Dynasty also contains: "The old Gongjiang Mirror in Yangzhou was cast in the center of the Yangtze River on May 5th."
Later, the "Jiang Xin Mirror" was often used to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival and to wish good luck.
"Dragon Boat Festival and Six Dynasties Style" written by Ma Zuchang of the Yuan Dynasty: "A dragon mirror is cast in the center of the river, which is easy to use to illuminate Hunan."
This mirror is very magical in the legend, which is mainly reflected in these few sentences: Coiling dragon, coiling dragon, hidden in the mirror.
This shows that there is a dragon pattern hidden in this mirror, and it can disappear and appear.
Of course, no one believed these magical legends.
However, since the treasures from the sunken ship of the Blackstone were salvaged, the various theories in these legends have begun to become different.
A bronze artifact found in the "Black Stone" is the "Jiangxin Mirror", also known as the Shuixin Mirror or the Bailian Mirror.
Legend has it that this is a unique ancient bronze mirror in Yang City, and it is also a "sacred object" paid tribute;
"Taiping Guangji" contains "On the fifteenth day of the fifth month in the third year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou entered the river with a mirror in its mind, nine inches in length and width, a light sun, a coiled dragon on its back, three feet four inches long, and a vivid momentum."
In fact, there are not many ancient bronze mirrors of this shape, but they are definitely not uncommon.
There are so many bronze mirrors in archaeological discoveries. Is it surprising?
Indeed, judging from the current archaeological discoveries, there are indeed not a few unearthed bronze mirrors;
According to historical records, Yangshi in the Tang Dynasty was originally the "production base" for bronze mirrors. It does not seem surprising that an "exported" bronze mirror was discovered along the Water Silk Road.
If the "Jiang Xin Mirror" is so ordinary, it would be fine. The reason why it is called a "treasure" is because it has a rather "magical" experience;
According to historical records, the "Jiangxin Mirror" was presented to Xuanzong by Li Shoutai.
To be fair, since ancient times, "there is no wealth better than the imperial family." Xuanzong was also an emperor, so he saw that it was just a "mirror" and didn't take it seriously at first.
But Li Shoutai said that "Yangtze River State of Mind" was a treasure and reported it truthfully.
According to today's historical records, Yang City was already rich in bronze mirrors, among which there was a workshop called "Lv Hui" that was even more famous;
During the reign of Emperor Taizong, an old man and a young man suddenly came to Lu Hui's workshop. The old man was dressed in green and called himself "Long Hu", while the young man was dressed in black and called himself "Xuan Ming".
The young and old couple said to Lu Hui, "Although your skills are superb, you still can't make a 'treasure mirror'. We can make your wish come true."
Lu Hui was very happy and immediately vacated his workshop for the two of them to use;
The strange thing is that the doors and windows of the old and young general's workshop are sealed, and there is no sound of forging hammers. Instead, there are waves of dragons roaring, tigers roaring, ghosts crying and wolves howling.
Everyone in Lu Hui was "mortal". When they heard something was wrong in the workshop, they were so frightened that no one dared to peek;
After three days and nights, there was no sound in the workshop. Lu Hui opened the door and saw that the young and old couple had disappeared, leaving only a note.
It says, "The mirror dragon is three feet, four inches long, and five cents long. It has three talents, resembles the four qi, and has five elements. It stretches across nine villages and is similar to the divisions of nine states. Its mirror nose is like a bright moon bead. The Emperor Kaiyuan has supernatural powers and the Holy Spirit, so I descended upon him to give him blessings."
Mirrors can ward off evil spirits and discern all things, and the mirror of Qin Shihuang cannot do anything better."
This text clearly tells Lu Hui the size and style of the bronze mirror and why he wanted to make a "treasure mirror";
These words are quite simple, so I won’t explain them sentence by sentence here.
In addition to these, there is also a "song" on the paper.
The original text is: The coiling dragon is hidden in the mirror. There are images in the divisions and endless changes. The clouds and mist are rising, the rain is making the wind. The fairies of the Supreme Purity are coming, and the sages and wise men are coming.