The Shang and Zhou dynasties were a peak in the development history of ancient Chinese bronzes.
The bronzes of this period are exquisite in shape and exude a sense of solemnity and sanctity.
At that time, bronze vessels were mainly used for sacrifices and banquets, so they were given special significance.
They are also often called "bronze ritual vessels". Since ancient times, bronze vessels have been regarded as a national treasure and have been particularly cherished by people.
This bronze vessel has a cover at the back of the bird's top, and the handles of the bird are connected by rings at both ends of the neck, and the rings are decorated with scale patterns.
The inscription on the vessel is "Taibao Cast", which is exactly the same as the Dabao Fang Ding.
At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, Duke Zhao was the great protector.
After King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, in order to resist the invasion of Rong and Di from the south, he granted the title of Duke Zhao to Yan and established the country in the north of Beihe.
Nowadays, bronze wares with the inscription "Yanhou" have been unearthed from Liulihe, the capital of China, and Machanggou, Lingyuan, Liaoning Province, but there are no bronzes with the inscription "Taibao".
Although this type of urn is a bronze vessel passed down from generation to generation, there is no location where it was unearthed, so we can only speculate that it may be related to the Zhaogong family.
Elephant vessels imitating the images of birds and animals are a particularly magical and beautiful type of bronze vessels.
The concept is unique, the production is extremely beautiful, the work is meticulous, and it is thought-provoking.
The shape of the whole vessel is unique, very expressive and imaginative, making it a masterpiece of Zhou Dynasty bronzeware.
Such bronzes are sought after all over the world because of their unique historical and artistic value.
Due to the constant wars in our country's modern history, many precious bronze ritual vessels have been lost overseas.
Neighboring countries have many collections of neons, including a large treasure chest.
In ancient times, "Tai" and "大" were written in the same way, so it was also called Dabaoyou.
Because of its bird-like shape, it can also be called a bird-shaped 卣.
Its design style was unique in the Shang and Zhou dynasties and can be called a peerless treasure.
Our country has bird-shaped wine vessels from the Shang Dynasty, which are a pair of Owl statues collected by the Nanhe Museum and the Palace Museum.
Its design is very complicated, with layers of complex patterns all over its body, and its head is quite different from the bird's appearance.
The Taibao Zun at the Neon Baihe Art Museum is a work from the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and is completely different from the Owl Zun from the Shang Dynasty.
The animal mask patterns and thunder patterns that are common on bronzes are almost completely absent on them. There are only simple patterns showing feathers, and the simple decoration highlights the overall solemnity.
The bird's head of Taibao is slightly raised, its eyes are wide open, its beak is long and sharp, and it is slightly curved, which is realistic and spirited.
This is very different from the black bird pattern popular in the Shang Dynasty and the phoenix bird pattern popular in the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty. It has a little bit of an ancient Egyptian feel.
There are two large wattles under the jaw of the bird's head, which may be an exaggerated depiction of the chicken's wattles.
There are two large fleshy crests with scales on the top of the bird's head, which hang down to the back of the neck. This is a feature that real birds do not have.
From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, phoenixes were sometimes seen with a long fleshy crown on their heads, which may be the continuation of this bird shape in later generations.
The tail of the meat crown protrudes from the surface of the vessel. This is a relatively complicated method for bronze vessels, and it also shows that this work is an important item specially made.
The Zhou people have the myth and legend of "Feng Ming Qishan", which shows that they have the custom of worshiping birds. Taibao You should be the specific expression of the myth in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
Bronze vessels from the early to mid-Shang Dynasty had deformed bird patterns.
It is usually placed in a secondary position as an auxiliary pattern.
Among the deformed bird patterns, the most common one is the phoenix bird pattern.
At this time, there are also several auspicious birds with mythological backgrounds, such as eagles, grebes, magpies, owls, etc.
From a composition point of view, bird patterns use bird heads, bird bodies, and bird tails with different characteristics to express specific bird patterns.
Specifically, the beaks of most birds are closed and hook-shaped, similar to those of birds of prey.
Some birds also have open beaks, a style seen in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
Birds have horns or hairy horns on their heads, and the shapes of horns generally include curved horns, fleshy horns and pointed horns.
The body of the bird pattern is mostly just that of a bird without wings.
Sometimes due to the needs of the pattern structure, the shape of a long curly tail is also adopted, forming the characteristics of a bird-headed dragon body.
People in the Zhou Dynasty regarded the phoenix as an auspicious bird, so since the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the phoenix pattern has become the theme decoration of bronze vessels.
By the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the use of phoenix and bird patterns reached its peak, which some people call the "Phoenix Pattern Era".
The neon piece should be a treasure that appeared in this era. This bronze 卣 also has three characters on the cover behind the bird's head and on the inside of the throat. "Taibao Cast".
The font is extremely ancient. The word "bao" has the word "wang" (actually jade) next to the "herringbone", and the word "zhu" has two hands holding Li and placing it on the refining boiler.
There are two other square tripods with similar inscriptions to Taibao You, one is in Chou State and the other is in Jincheng Museum.
This domestic national treasure is definitely not allowed to leave the country. It is called "Taibao Ding" and it was probably made by one person at the same time.
"Historical Records: Yan Zhaogong Family" records: "Zhao Gongsi has the same surname as Zhou, and his surname is Ji. When King Wu of Zhou destroyed Zhou, he granted Zhao Gong the title of Northern Yan."
It can be seen that the authors of Taibao Ding and Taibao You were probably Zhao Gongsi, a minister in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
The two Taibao tripods were unearthed in Liangshan, Shouzhang County, Qilu Province during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty.
As for the Taibao 卣, it is said that it was unearthed from a tomb in Xincun, Hebi Jun County, Nanhe Province during the Republic of China. It is estimated that it was passed down to future generations and dispersed into burials.
The Baihe Art Museum’s high-quality bronze 卣 is not the only one of Taibao 卣.
In addition, there is also an extremely precious "animal-faced dragon-patterned fang 卣 (also known as the Taotie Kui dragon-patterned square 卣)".
This 卣 is not big, 39.2 centimeters high, but its shape is also unique.
Its body is square, but when it reaches the mouth it becomes round, and its lid is also round, with a black bird standing on it as the lid button.
This is probably a concrete representation of a round sky and a round place, which is extremely rare and precious.
The entire 卣 is decorated with complex patterns from top to bottom, showing a typical artistic style of the Yin Ruins.
It is said that this work was unearthed from the royal tomb in the Yin Ruins, and many domestic scholars also think it is very possible.
The handle of the square 卣 with animal-faced Kui dragon pattern is a double-headed Kui dragon, and there is a black bird standing on the lid.
A separate plate-shaped Kuilong decoration was also made, which is the only one seen in China.
The lid, body, neck, and four corners of the belly are all decorated with animal face patterns, which were formerly called Taotie patterns.
Later I found out that it was wrong, so I called it animal mask pattern.
In fact, it is an exaggerated dragon pattern on the face.
What's rare is that the horns are all raised.
But it is different from the raising of animal horns in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. It is an early form of animal horn practice.
In addition, there are many blue rust spots on the body, which is also an attraction.
This belongs to copper sulfate pentahydrate, also known as gall vitriol. This kind of rust is not very stable and is easily decomposed by heat and loses water. It has slightly higher environmental stability requirements.
The Baihe Art Museum has so many exquisite products. In addition to Shang and Zhou bronzes, this time it also invited several precious treasures from the Tang Dynasty to commemorate the 1,400th anniversary of the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
The most precious one is the Tang Sancai Phoenix First Vase, which is a large and exquisite Hu vase.
This type of vessel comes from Persia, and it is also the most wonderful three-color phoenix head vase that Chen Wenzhe knows.