Chapter 1,700: Ruin of etiquette and collapse of joy
Looking at the photo in front of him, Chen Wenzhe was sure that it should be Jiuding Bagui.
How many times have the real Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui, not to mention him, been seen by several large archaeological teams in China?
Chen Wenzhe was able to confirm that these were bronzes from the Western Zhou Dynasty because he saw the process of taking pictures of these bronzes through Hui Shuo.
Just through the photo in his hand, he could see so many things.
For example, the nine bronze tripods have the same decoration, and their sizes decrease in order.
The largest piece is 54.5 cm tall, and the smallest piece is 47.5 cm.
The eight bronze guis are of the same shape and have similar patterns.
It can be seen from the shape of the Nine Tripods and Eight Gui that it has changed the past majestic and solemn artistic style, and has become more beautiful and light.
The decoration has also changed from the unrestrained coarse lines in the past to neat and fine lines.
Like the hui pattern on these bronze tripods, two or more hui dragons are intertwined with each other, continuously penetrating and circling, vividly and delicately attached to the surface of the utensil, creating a gorgeous and intricate artistic effect.
It represents the new trend of this era.
This set of nine tripods and eight guis inherits the techniques of bronzes from the Yin and Shang dynasties, while also possessing a unique carving technique of thick sloped lines or thin negative lines.
This shines brightly on bird-shaped bronze vessels and animal-faced patterns.
This kind of bronze ware is still different from the bronze ware of subsequent eras.
For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, political princes competed for hegemony, academic schools of thought contended, and culture and art flourished.
The bronze art at this time was so brilliant that it was comparable to the Greek and Roman stone carvings in the Mediterranean basin at that time.
Although the Qin Dynasty had the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, known as the eighth wonder of the world, the art of unearthed bronzes still relies on new discoveries in underground archaeology.
Han Dynasty bronzes inherited the essence of Warring States bronzes, continued to develop, and established the basic pattern of my country's bronze culture.
In the history of bronze ware culture in my country, which lasted for three and a half centuries, the Three Kingdoms, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods were a low point between the highly developed Han and Tang bronze ware.
There are very few bronzes unearthed, and they all have the charm of the Han Dynasty. There are not many innovators in bronze culture.
The problem is that the traditional bronze culture of the Chinese nation, including the symmetrical setting of the "Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui", is constantly developing and changing, and is constantly integrating and innovating.
The cultural connotation of the symmetrical setting of the "Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui" in our country is not static, nor does it have a fixed and rigid model.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, funerals from aristocrats to common people have generally exceeded the ceremony, which has a double meaning.
One is that after the royal family moved eastward, the feudal patriarchal order was in chaos, and the ritual and music system that symbolized the feudal order also experienced a phenomenon of "corruption of rituals and collapse of music";
One reason is that due to the improvement of the economic and political status of civilians, "rituals" are no longer the exclusive preserve of aristocrats.
Due to several major social turmoils in ancient my country, in addition to the collapse and separation of values and moral systems, there was also a "collapse of etiquette and music."
Therefore, the lack of a long-lasting and deeply rooted awe is related to values.
But living in modern times, we need to understand the rise and fall of chaos since ancient times.
Therefore, the shape, quantity, size, and even the decoration of Jiuding and Bagui all have certain rules.
For example, why did the "Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui" shapes with a circle at the top and a square shape at the bottom evolve into the shape of "holding the circle and guarding the square"?
The ancients of Chinese civilization said: There is a truth between heaven and earth, and there is wisdom in the world.
The core values of the five thousand years of Chinese civilization are, first of all, the "view of heaven and earth", and the simple and innovative Chinese humanistic spirit from "holding the sky and guarding the earth" to "holding the circle and guarding the square", etc.
To deeply study the connotation and culture of the symmetrical setting of "Nine Tripods and Eight Gui" in China, we must examine and excavate the thick shape of "Nine Tripods and Eight Gui" from the historical background of the symmetrical setting of "Nine Tripods and Eight Gui".
Therefore, the Jiuding has an external shape of three legs with a round top and a round bottom;
A detailed analysis of the body of the Eight Gui vessels will reveal that they are mostly rounded at the top and decorated with animal face patterns at the bottom.
The Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui are symbols of the ancient central government.
Jiuding represents the nine states in ancient my country. The tripod is the main artifact in ancient rituals. It is a special item for nobles at all levels. It is a symbol of unifying the world and establishing the Xia Dynasty.
Gui, an ancient food vessel with a round mouth and two ears.
The height of Ding Tong is 47-53.5 cm, and the diameter is 45.7-53.3 cm. The height of Guitong is 21.1-22.8 cm, and the diameter is about 19.5 cm.
This kind of shape seems to be a bit small, but in history, there are not many princes who lacked status and were buried with nine tripods and eight guis.
No matter what, the appearance of such a batch of bronzes at the same time is still very shocking.
For example, every visitor who walks into the Zeng Houyi Exhibition Hall of Beihu Museum will be shocked by the momentum of the "Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui" there.
At the same time, they will also be confused.
Historically, the Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui were symbols of central power, which only the emperor could possess.
The power of the princes is the seven tripods and six guis, and the power of the great officials is the five tripods and four guis.
However, Marquis Yi of Zeng was the king of Zeng State (i.e. Sui State) with the surname Ji in the south during the Warring States Period. Although he was a king, he was not the emperor at that time. It should be seven tripods and six guis, but why is it nine tripods and eight guis?
So is Zeng Hou Yi’s Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui trespassing?
The text on the wall of the museum explains that it is an extra level and is in line with the tripod system of princes.
However, starting from the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family began to decline, princes from various places rose up, and the ritual and music system that symbolized the feudal order began to experience the phenomenon of "collapse of rituals and music".
At this time, the bronze ritual vessels also changed accordingly, and the "transgression" behavior of the princes became increasingly common.
It is common for officials to use the system of princes more and more, and some princes even use more luxurious ritual vessels than the emperor.
Under this background, it is not surprising that the Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.
But how did the "Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui" come into being in history, and who led it?
Chen Wenzhe looked at a photo, and it seemed that wherever the Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui appeared, there would also be other bronzes that looked particularly familiar to us, such as spoons.
The spoon in the photo in Chen Wenzhe's hand must have been unearthed together with Jiuding Bagui.
The tripod above has an open mouth, folded edges, upright ears and a round bottom.
The abdomen is decorated with beetle patterns and cord patterns, the shapes and patterns are the same, and the sizes decrease in order;
The Gui cover has a round handle, the body has a mouth, a bulging belly, and a round bottom.
It is decorated with curved patterns, tile patterns, hanging scale patterns, and the handles on both sides are decorated with scroll patterns and panchi patterns. The shape, decoration, and size are all the same.
The spoon is not ordinary, it is also a bronze vessel, it is huge in size and has patterns engraved on it.
The "ding" is used to hold meat products, the "gui" is used to hold millet, millet and other grain products, and the spoon is obviously used to hold food.
The system of tripods refers to the combination of tripods with the same shape, decoration, and inscriptions, but in descending order of size, and the combination of guis with basically the same shape, decoration, and size.
The number of tripods and guis are odd and even numbers respectively, arranged according to rules and served with different types of food.
As many as five sets of similar Jiuding series of ritual vessels were unearthed in the ancient city of Zheng and Han.
The Nine Cauldrons and Eight Gui were unearthed in the vassal states, which is evidence of the gradual decline of the Zhou royal family.