Chapter 1686: Flap your wings and fly for three thousand years
It's a pity that during the war, many treasures in the country were lost to the little devils. Qin
I hope that one day, when the country really develops, we can step on the cherry blossoms together and welcome back all the national treasures.
"Don't sigh, we still have a lot of good things left in our country. Look, there is a bronze bird here."
Just when Chen Wenzhe was sighing with emotion, Cao Qingchun opened a box again, and inside there was a simple bronze bird covered with patina.
This exhibit is 5 cm long and 5.3 cm high.
The bronze bird has a head-raised shape, protruding round eyes, folded and upturned wings, and folded and drooping tail feathers, creating a vivid image.
There's not much to say about this bronze bird, because it has no inscriptions and doesn't go out much.
There are still Shang and Zhou bronze birds with this shape in China. Chen Wenzhe remembers a bronze bird from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which is now collected in the Sichuan Jinsha Site Museum. Qin
"You have a higher level of vision now. You can't even see the Zhou Dynasty bronzes. Why don't you go take a look at the large bronze phoenix bird outside?"
"Large? How big is it? It won't be the largest in the world, right?"
Chen Wenzhe joked and followed Cao Qingchun out.
Sure enough, there was actually a bigger phoenix outside, which had not been moved into the studio.
"Don't worry too much, this one is probably a replica. Although the real one is in China, it's a pity that I can't buy it!"
Seeing the pity on Cao Qingchun's face, Chen Wenzhe burst out laughing.
Of course he knows where the true form of this phoenix bird is. It has been flying for three thousand years. It is the largest bronze phoenix bird. As long as there is an insider, who can not know it? Qin
There is an ancient saying that good birds choose trees to roost in. Our country has a saying of "dragon and phoenix present auspiciousness" since ancient times.
Together with the dragon, the phoenix is known as a symbol of nobility and auspiciousness.
Now there is a three-thousand-year-old "divine phoenix" returning to the motherland.
This "divine phoenix" is the Phoenix Bird Zun, an early Western Zhou bronze vessel more than 3,000 years ago.
The overall shape of this bronze vessel is a phoenix bird, which has a unique meaning.
What kind of dynasty was the Western Zhou Dynasty? Historians agree that this was the heyday of my country's ancient society, when the Huaxia people gradually merged and formed, becoming the predecessor of the Han people.
This is a dynasty with a precise history. The Chinese people rioted in 841 BC, and Chinese history entered an era of complete trust in history. Qin
3,000 years ago, our ancestors particularly respected the phoenix bird, and merchants used it as a totem. There is a saying that "the phoenix bird generates business".
Zhou people regarded it as the patron saint of the nation.
According to records, the ancestor of the Zhou people, Hou Ji, was named Qi.
The abandoned mother stepped on the footprints of a giant to conceive and give birth. It was considered a bad omen and people decided to throw away the child.
Yet thrown on the roadside, cattle and horses walked around without trampling on him;
Throwing it into the mountain forest, the originally silent forest suddenly became crowded;
Finally, he threw the child on the ice and wanted to freeze him to death. Suddenly a flock of phoenix birds flew in the air and used their wings to warm the child. Qin
People thought the child had supernatural powers and decided to raise him.
When he grew up, he became an agricultural officer under Yao and Shun, teaching people how to farm.
From this point of view, without the phoenix, there would be no Zhou people.
It is out of reverence for the phoenix and its auspicious meaning that bronzes in the Shang and Zhou dynasties were heavily decorated with phoenix and bird patterns.
However, for unknown reasons, the currently discovered three-dimensional bronze statues reflecting the image of the phoenix bird are very rare.
The most famous ones in the past were undoubtedly the two Western Zhou phoenix bird statues now in the Chou Kingdom.
However, they are only a dozen centimeters in height and are more than delicate but not powerful enough. Qin
This Pengji phoenix bird statue of the Western Zhou Dynasty is nearly half a meter high, allowing people to fully understand the highest level of the Shang and Zhou phoenix bird statues for the first time.
Of course, we can also deeply understand the respect and love the Shang and Zhou people had for the phoenix.
The origin of this phoenix bird statue is a mystery and it was discovered by accident.
This bronze statue originally wandered overseas. It is no longer known when exactly it was lost overseas.
The person who originally collected the Phoenix Bird Zun overseas is still unwilling to reveal the origin of the statue.
The director of the Poly Art Museum, who personally collected and returned this treasure, lamented that the return of this treasure to our country was purely accidental.
A person who has been engaged in collecting cultural relics for many years told the Poly Art Museum that he heard that someone overseas collected a bronze phoenix bird statue from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Qin
But what exactly this cultural relic looks like and whose hands it is, this person doesn’t know.
Experts from the Poly Art Museum couldn't believe it when they heard the news.
Because there are only a few dozen bronze statues in the shape of birds and animals that have been handed down from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and most of them are in the shape of animals. There are very few bird-shaped statues, and one in the shape of a phoenix has never been seen or even heard of.
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But the people at the Poly Museum were afraid of missing a precious cultural relic, so they asked people to look around overseas.
After more than half a year of inquiries, the collector was finally found, but the collector refused to show up.
Finally, after repeated persuasion by the middleman, the collector finally agreed to transport the statue to an antique shop in Xiangjiang, and the antique shop acted as a middleman to negotiate with Poly.
Unexpectedly, after the expert appraisal in the past, they were all surprised, because it was a complete Phoenix Bird Zun with no damage. Qin
This kind of bronze ware immediately amazed everyone.
At that time, the owner of the antique shop did not agree to let Poly take it back to the mainland for inspection before paying.
The experts spent a lot of time and finally convinced the shop owner to welcome the treasure back to the mainland for appraisal based on Poly's world-recognized reputation and the sincerity that the national treasure should eventually be returned to the motherland.
Professor Ma Chengyuan, the old director of the Ocean Museum, Professor Li Xueqin, the chief scientist of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasty Project, Professor Zhu Fenghan, deputy director of the National Museum of China, and other authorities in the appraisal and research of bronzes in my country made independent appraisals back to back and finally determined them to be authentic.
What surprised the experts even more was that when they tried to repair the damage to the bronze phoenix, the treasure was not damaged at all!
Historiography, the authoritative final conclusion of the bronze ware is: "It is unanimously believed that it is huge in shape, extraordinary in momentum, and unique in shape. It has never been seen before. It is the most wonderful Shang and Zhou bronze bird-shaped statue seen in the world so far. It is an extremely rare art treasure.
It is a well-deserved national treasure.”
Times have moved and things have changed. How many splendid cultures have gradually dissipated in the passage of time, and how many national treasures and cultural relics have been destroyed in exile. Qin
Every existing national treasure and cultural relic is so lucky and valuable!
There are still many bronze ritual vessels like this owned by the nobles of the Western Zhou Dynasty in China.
For example, the God-faced You (you), the earliest cultural relic in my country that records Dayu and his rule of virtue, the Suigong Yu (xu), and my country's top wine vessel, the Pengji Phoenix Bird Zun of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
These are national treasure-level bronzes, such as the Shenmianyao, which were bronze ritual vessels owned by the nobles of the Western Zhou Dynasty 3,000 years ago.
It has unique content and exquisite craftsmanship, and is considered to be one of the most valuable works of art among the surviving bronzes.
Suigong Yu is a piece of tableware from the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, about 2900 years ago.
It is the earliest known cultural relic in my country that records Dayu's flood control and moral governance. It is a national first-class cultural relic. Qin