Overall, the design of this copper bull lamp is very exquisite, even very scientific.
For example, a cow has a hollow belly and carries a round lamp panel on its back. There is a flat handle on one side of the lamp panel to facilitate turning the lamp panel.
The plate is decorated with two lampshades that can be flexibly rotated, one of which is hollowed out with a diamond-shaped diagonal grid pattern, which plays the role of heat dissipation, wind protection and dimming.
The dome-shaped cover is tightly fastened to the lampshade, and the uniformly curved smoke pipe on the top of the cover is tightly connected with the protruding short pipe above the cow's head.
When the lamp is lit, the smoke generated is dissolved in the clean water introduced into the abdominal cavity of the lamp holder through the smoke pipe, thereby ensuring the freshness of the indoor air.
These various designs can be described as ingenious, coupled with the ultimate craftsmanship, making this copper cow lamp even more extraordinary.
This Eastern Han Dynasty embroidered gold and silver copper cow lamp mainly uses the embossed gold and silver craftsmanship.
It first uses gold, silver or other metal wires and embeds them into the surface of the bronze to form patterns.
Then use a polishing stone (that is, a grinding stone) to flatten and polish the embedded metal wires to make the overall surface of the object look smooth and bright.
This kind of craft was very popular during the Warring States Period and gradually declined during the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, this silver-wrapped copper cow lamp allows people to see the exquisite performance of this craft during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
This Eastern Han Dynasty copper cow lamp with mixed silver is not only exquisitely designed, but also skillfully uses two different materials, copper and silver, to create an exquisite color combination.
The copper cow lamp is smooth and exquisite in craftsmanship.
Except for the lampshade, the entire body is decorated with silver flowing moiré patterns.
There are dragons, phoenixes, tigers, and deer flying among the cloud patterns.
The lines of the pattern are round and smooth, flying and elegant.
This instrument must be the best of the many bronze lamps in the Han Dynasty, which perfectly combines practicality and art.
The appearance of this Eastern Han Dynasty silver-coated copper cow lamp further proves that as early as more than 2,000 years ago, the Chinese people already had environmental awareness in the design of bronze lamps.
This is not an isolated case, because there is a better Changxin palace lantern!
It can be said that this invention is also in a leading position in the history of lighting fixtures in the world.
Of course, if such a lantern is not enough to prove anything, then add the Changxin Palace Lantern.
If this does not prove the environmental awareness of the ancient Chinese, then add a wild goose fish lantern.
Chen Wenzhe really didn't expect that he had just finished sorting out the copper ox lanterns and found another wild goose lantern.
The wild goose lanterns and wild goose foot lanterns of the Western Han Dynasty are both very famous.
The shape of the wild goose foot lamp is relatively simple. It is a disc-shaped bronze lamp with wild goose feet in the Han Dynasty. There is not much to say about this.
The wild goose fish lantern is very talkative. The Western Han Dynasty wild goose fish lamp in Chen Wenzhe's hands has a vivid shape and exquisite craftsmanship. It must be a rare art treasure.
With the advancement of civilization in human society, the concept of energy conservation and emission reduction has become more and more popular. When remanufacturing lamps, we also strive to perfectly integrate environmental protection, practicality and aesthetic pleasure.
However, as early as the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, the extremely intelligent and creative ancients created a copper lamp that integrated art and environmental protection - the bronze wild goose lamp.
Let’s not talk about the ingenuity of the design, let’s talk about the craftsmanship first.
This wild goose fish lantern is entirely made of copper, and the overall shape is like a swan goose standing with its head back and holding a fish in its mouth.
The wild goose has a crown on its forehead, wide eyes, a long neck, and a wide and fat body.
Wings are cast on both sides of its body, its short tail is upturned, its feet stand side by side, and its palms are webbed.
The goose opens its beak and holds a fish. The fish has a short and fat body with a lampshade cover underneath.
The geese's crowns are painted in red, and the geese and fish are painted in emerald green.
And on the wild geese, fish and lampshade screen, use ink lines to outline the feathers, scales and Kui dragon patterns.
The wild goose lantern is 34.5cm long and 53cm high.
The wild goose fish lamp is composed of four parts: the head and neck of the wild goose (with the fish), the body of the wild goose, the lamp panel and the lampshade.
The goose's neck and body are connected by the mother-child mouth.
The body of the fish, the neck of the goose, and the body cavity are all hollow and connected.
The lamp panel is round, with straight walls, a shallow belly, and two straight wall rims inside.
There is a lamp handle attached to one side, which can control the rotation of the lamp panel.
There are ring feet under the plate, which are connected with the straight wall ring on the goose's back with a mother-and-child mouth.
The lampshade is made of two curved plates, the upper part of which is inserted into the edge of the straight wall ring in the lamp panel, and can be rotated left and right to open and close, which can not only block the wind, but also adjust the illumination of the light.
When the lamp is lit, the smoke is introduced into the body of the goose through the fish and the goose's neck, preventing the oil smoke from polluting the indoor air.
The four parts of the wild goose lamp can be freely disassembled and assembled for easy cleaning.
The copper lamp is painted with paint on the feathers and scales of the wild goose in four colors: black, white, red and green. The painting is simple and summarized.
The wild goose was a kind of messenger bird in ancient my country, and was often used as a gift for concluding marriages or as a gift when a doctor met.
Decorative themes such as flying geese holding fish have appeared on painted pottery as early as the Neolithic Age, and were especially common in the Han Dynasty.
Generally speaking, "fish" and "yu" have the same pronunciation, and "fish" is a symbol of harvest and wealth. Therefore, this decorative theme must have placed people's desire to pursue a better and wealthy life at that time.
This is a low-carbon environmentally friendly lamp made by the ancients. There must be more than one kind of such lamp, and it must not only be the three types mentioned by Chen Wenzhe, but there are many.
Bronze lamps in the Han Dynasty come in various forms, with exquisite and practical casting techniques.
The shapes are mostly based on auspicious themes, such as wild goose foot lanterns, red bird lanterns, cow lanterns, sheep lanterns, branch lanterns, etc. Copper cow lanterns and wild goose fish lanterns are just two of them.
The reason why Changxin palace lanterns are famous and precious is actually because of the inscriptions on them.
Speaking of inscriptions, there are some hints in them.
Chen Wenzhe didn't know much about it before, but when he came to Nanhai, there were too many antique cultural relics from the Han Dynasty. Chen Wenzhe gained a lot of experience and worked hard to learn more!
Now he knows very well that the Changxin Palace Lantern is also a copper lamp. Some parts of the lamp body are engraved with nine inscriptions, totaling 65 characters.
The interesting part lies in this inscription.
The inscription here is similar to that of Zun Hou Yizun. It has also been altered. To be more precise, it should be additionally engraved!
Around the bottom of the upper lamp holder of the Changxin palace lantern, there is an inscription "Changxin is still bathing, one liter is less than half a liter, weighs six kilograms, one hundred and eighty-nine, and the person inside is lying inside now."
Upon closer inspection, the handwriting is a bit sloppy and may have been engraved later, so "Chang Xin Shang Yu" does not seem to be the original owner of this lamp.
The original owner should be the one who engraved it first, and the handwriting should be neater.
Therefore, the six inscriptions with the words "Yangxin Family" on the lamp body indicate that the palace lantern originally belonged to Liu Jie's family, Marquis Yangxinyi.
That palace lantern also has the words "Changxin" written on it. It was used in the Changxin Palace where Empress Dowager Dou lived, so it was named "Changxin Palace Lantern".
As I said before, artifacts with inscriptions recording history and proving a historical fact are more precious.
However, this Changxin palace lantern was a restoration device. When archaeological experts opened the tomb chamber, the Changxin palace lantern was scattered on the ground and was not in its complete form.
The tomb chamber where the Changxin palace lantern was unearthed was not very solid because the top of the main chamber had a two-slope structure.
Therefore, the eastern half of the roof of the main room collapsed, and the Changxin palace lantern originally placed on the tables fell to the ground and scattered.