Gansu Provincial Museum: The Mystery of "Bronze gilded Tiger Eating Sheep-shaped Base" When visiting the museum, suddenly there was an exhibit that made us very nervous. In other words, I saw a cultural relic, which contains skills and represents ideas beyond our thinking. Wandering over the weekend, the Gansu Provincial Museum came across such an exhibit. This exhibit is called "bronze gilded tiger bites sheep-shaped base", which is a masterpiece of Qin people in the Spring and Autumn Period. 1. The tiger held down the lamb, exhausted all his strength, and opened his mouth to bite. It seems that this is a very weighty bronze, and it is also a very delicate bronze. This is a big guy, with a height of14.5cm and a length of about 20cm, with red spots and green rust, which is natural in Gu Zhuo. This bronze sculpture "Bronze Gold-gilded Tiger Eating Sheep-shaped Base" vividly reproduces the moment when the tiger threw down the lamb and opened his mouth wide, ready to bite. I saw that the tiger landed on its hind legs and its front legs pressed against the sheep's body. The tiger's mouth opened wide, and the sheep curled up into a ball, showing the power and prestige of the king of beasts, perfectly showing the tiger eating sheep. Even through the glass, we can feel the beauty of the beast's power. The bronze gilded tiger eats a sheep-shaped base is a cold bronze, but it is perfect in detail. Especially the shape of the tiger's head, Qin craftsmen 2,500 years ago highlighted the tiger's head with very exaggerated means. The whole tiger's head accounts for almost one-third of the whole sculpture, while the shape of the tiger's mouth accounts for half of the tiger's head. It can be seen that craftsmen in the pre-Qin period had superb casting skills. Not only the modeling is exaggerated, but also various coils and lines are used in the modeling decoration of the sculpture, which highlights the ferocity and tenacity of the beast and gives people a daunting feeling. There is a mystery on the back of "bronze gilded tiger eats sheep-shaped base" There is a copper plug in the middle of the tiger's back, about five or six centimeters high and three centimeters wide. Obviously, it is used to insert things. So, what is it used for? Some people say it's a bronze mirror, others say it's a screen. In the past, I thought it should be the command flag of the three armed forces, so as to conform to the personality of the Qin people in a bloody battle. Obviously, the academic circles are also puzzled by the use of "bronze gilded tiger eating sheep-shaped base". For this bronze sculpture, it simply says: bronze gilded tiger eats sheep-shaped base, which can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period. The specific use seems unclear. What is its foundation? As people speculate, it is to place bronze mirrors or screens or the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces. 2. The artifacts around the king of Qin witnessed the rise of Qin people. However, if you look closely, this mysterious bronze sculpture is of a very high level. There are many golden lights shining on the surface. It turns out that tigers used to eat sheep with gold on them. It's just that after being buried underground for thousands of years, most of the gold has gradually peeled off. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the wrong gold and gilded gold on bronzes were not owned by ordinary people. If nothing else, among the many bronzes of Qin Gong in Lixian and Baicaopo in Lingtai exhibited in Gansu Provincial Museum, there are few bronzes with wrong gold. It is said that the bronze gilded tiger sheep-eating base was collected from the people and came from Dabaozi Mountain in Lixian County. This also confirms its importance from another side. This is the birthplace of early Qin people and the most important base of Qin people. The three kings of Qin people are buried here. "Bronze gilded tiger eats sheep-shaped base" witnessed the development and growth of Qin people. At first, the Qin people were just a very weak tribe that committed heinous crimes. The origin of Qin people has always been confusing, and even Sima Qian's records are vague. Generally speaking, there are two kinds: East and West. In the east, Qin people originated in Dongyi, and in the west, Qin people originated in the west, such as Sanwei Mountain. According to the textual research of Qin bamboo slips, Mr. Li Xueqin thinks that Qin people came from Dongyi. It turns out that the ancestors of Qin people were important subordinates of Shang Zhouwang, who led the army to the East. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, Wu Geng, the son of Yin, was sealed in Qufu, Shandong Province and sent three people to supervise the country. But Wu Geng instigated Guan Shu to rebel with him, and the ancestors of Qin people also took part in the rebellion. After the defeat, the Zhou Dynasty reduced some rebels to slaves and moved some to the west, guarding the western frontier for the Zhou people. Among them, Fei Lian (the ancestor of Qin people) and his father played a certain role. This is the reason why the Qin people moved west. According to Qin bamboo slips, Qin people were sent to the west, a place called Zhu. Zhu is one of the earliest place names in China. Yu Gong, written more than 2,500 years ago, is China's first geography book. Zhu is mentioned in the book, which is a key point in Dayu's water control process. Zhulai Mountain is on the Weihe River, just outside Gangu County, which is called the first county in China. There, Chibi is the origin of Zhu, a middle school student in Zhulai Mountain. Zhu means red. So, what does this mean? It means grazing, which is the same as "Yi" in ancient Chinese, but it is like "slave in a dungeon" in bronze inscriptions. Together, they mean grazing slaves. The interpretation of the word Zhu Yi is consistent with the meaning of Qin people's westward migration. Maojiaping, about 50 miles from Gangu County, has unearthed a large number of Qin relics in recent years. It is found that the remains here belong to two cultural types, one belongs to the remains of Qin culture and the other belongs to the culture that coexists with Qin culture but does not belong to the same type. Their shapes and patterns are similar to those unearthed from ancient sites in Shandong, and they belong to the scope of ancient Dongyi. It can be seen that this is the westernmost foothold of Qin people. As a result, the Qin people of Dabaozi Mountain in Tongli County and Sol Zhang, west of Longshan, formed a triangle, which firmly occupied a large area of land. This bronze "golden tiger eats sheep-shaped base" is a witness to the pioneering spirit of Qin people. 3. The master of Jin people, nomadic tribes and skillful craftsmen of Qin people, judging from the casting process of "bronze gilded golden tiger eating sheep-shaped base", it is obviously the fusion of eastern and western casting processes. Over the years, I have seen many sheep-shaped objects that eat tigers, but most of them are brands. In other words, most of them are plane reliefs, and there are relatively few bronze three-dimensional sculptures like bronze gilded tiger eating sheep-shaped base. Tiger pattern is a favorite decorative theme of Eurasian nomads. Before Qin and Han Dynasties, tiger patterns were widely used in rock paintings, tomb paintings or Ordos bronze patterns. At that time, in order to show their bravery, warriors liked to use tiger patterns as decorations, and the tiger-eating sheep patterns that showed the fierceness of tigers became their favorite. In the Xiongnu's gold and silver wares and bronzes, a large number of tiger-related modeling patterns appeared. It was not until the Sui and Tang Dynasties that this pattern gradually faded out of people's sight. I once saw a gold foil pattern of a tiger eating sheep, four or five centimeters long and three or four centimeters high. The craftsmen caught the moment when the tiger jumped on the food, with his mouth wide open, his whole body up, his front paws hard and his tail cocked. Some people think that this is a handicraft of the Scythians. Skitai people are a nation that originated from the prairie of Eastern Europe. Their footprints have been in Ordos today, and they are famous for their good horses. More than 0/000 years ago BC, they were also called Serbs, and they were the overlords of the northern grasslands. After the tiger pattern decoration was introduced into the farming nation, people gradually changed their shapes and gradually evolved from decorative cards to solid castings. There is a transitional artifact. This is what I saw at a cultural relic exhibition. This thing is five or six centimeters long, three or four centimeters high and about half a centimeter thick. It is obviously cast, and the model lines left after casting can be clearly seen. Cultural relics exhibition, I can't start. I guess there are fifty or sixty grams of gold. It can be seen that the shape of tiger eating sheep has changed from the bronze medal shape of grassland in northern Eurasia to the farming nation in the Yellow River basin. As far as casting technology is concerned, Qin people's "bronze gilded tiger eats sheep-shaped base" has a very exquisite and meticulous casting technology, which is much higher than that of northern nomads at the same time. So, where did Qin people learn their casting skills? The bronze casting skills of Qin people originated from Jin people. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin people had a close relationship with Jin people. Qin Mugong married the powerful State of Jin and proposed to Jin Xiangong. Jin Xiangong married his eldest daughter. Later, Qin Mugong helped Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, to become the new monarch of the State of Jin. This is Jin Wengong in the Spring and Autumn Five Overlords. This period of history is called the goodness of Qin and Jin Dynasties. According to textual research, Qin people mastered advanced bronze ware manufacturing technology in contact with Jin people. It can be said that the bronze sculpture of "bronze gilded tiger eating sheep-shaped base" combines the casting skills of Qin people and northern grassland nomads, who are both teachers of Qin craftsmen. 4. The mystery of bronze wares in Qin Dynasty was solved by Liu He, the sea faint Hou of Han Dynasty. Then, what is the purpose of this "bronze gilded tiger eating sheep-shaped base" in Gansu Provincial Museum? I haven't seen it before. Discuss the purpose of this thing. Recently, I looked at the pictures of cultural relics unearthed from Liu He's tomb in Han Dynasty, and suddenly I got something. In my opinion, "bronze gilded tiger eats sheep-shaped base" should be the base of bronze chime. How can you see it? Let's take a look at some bronzes unearthed in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, from Hou Haiyin cemetery in Han Dynasty. Liu He Tomb of Emperor Gaozu is located in Guanxi Village, Datangping Township, Xinjian District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. It is the largest, best preserved and most abundant tomb of the Liehou class in Han Dynasty found in China at present, and was selected as one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 20 15. The archaeological excavation of Haiyunhou cemetery in Han Dynasty is a very important archaeological excavation in recent years, and a large number of precious cultural relics have been unearthed. I looked through the pictures of cultural relics unearthed from Hou Haiyin's tomb and saw three bells bases. This bronze chime base is made of animal shapes of similar size. One is a rhinoceros and the other is a sheep. Although they are all gentle animals, their shapes are very strong. Show a unique momentum. There is a jack on the back, which is convenient for people to insert wooden poles. See the figure for details. In particular, there is a cloud shovel in front of the rhinoceros model, which seems to be designed to increase stability. At this point, the mechanical function of Gansu Provincial Museum's "bronze gilded tiger eats sheep-shaped base" is also to increase the stability of the base. Because the bronze chime is shaking in the process of playing, the strength is still relatively large. A few years ago, in the Qin cultural archaeology, Qin bells and stone bells were also unearthed in Dabaozi Mountain in Lixian County. This also confirms the Qin people's emphasis on rites and music from one side. This "bronze gilded tiger eats sheep-shaped base" of Gansu Provincial Museum should be used to hang musical instruments such as chimes or stone chimes. People didn't expect that the faint of the sea in the Han Dynasty solved the mystery of Qin people eating sheep. Sometimes, history is so wonderful. ? Please pay attention to Wang Wenyuan's original works and forward them. Copyright has been protected to avoid accidental injury and misappropriation! The data picture comes from the network