"Closed museum does not close the exhibition, online to see cultural relics"
Hello everyone, welcome to Baobo Micro Classroom! Today, Bao Bojun explains to you a cute thing - the Western Zhou Elephant Zun.
This Western Zhou Elephant Statue is a wine vessel. The whole bronze statue resembles a fat and plump elephant, with a hollow abdomen and a square lid on its back, which is connected to the elephant body by a copper ring so that the lid can be opened without falling off. The elephant has two round ears that are high, a high nose, a slightly open mouth, revealing tusks, stout and short four legs, and a natural drooping tail. The lid is decorated with a coiled snake pattern, the body is decorated with a phoenix pattern, and the ground is lined with a cloud and thunder pattern, and the ornamental layout is extremely ingenious and peculiar. This elephant statue is not only unique in shape, but also its design is very scientific and reasonable, and the craftsmen skillfully use various parts of the elephant's body to design the rolled-up elephant trunk into a stream, which communicates with the abdominal cavity, and the short and naughty elephant tail just becomes the bracelet of the utensil. In particular, the design of the elephant trunk is very scientific, the height of the elephant trunk is on the same level as the back of the elephant, and there are round holes in the middle, which communicate with the body cavity, so that even if the inside of the elephant is filled with liquid, it will not overflow from the trunk, which is exactly in line with the current principle of the connector.
Elephant zun belongs to the ancient class of special shapes - bird and beast zun, as the name suggests, that is, the shape of the bronze statue of a bird and beast. The shape of the bird and beast has the characteristics of sculpture, and at the same time it is practical and beautiful in one, and some utensils also use exaggerated expression techniques to express the birds and beasts to the fullest, giving people a strong visual impact and artistic beauty, adding a touch of fresh and lively color in the deep and solemn bronze ceremonial vessels, so it is highly favored.
Elephants generally live in warmer, humid climates and more dense forests, and at present, only Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan Province still has elephants in China. The excavation of this elephant statue not only shows that the climate in the Guanzhong region at that time was as humid and warm as Xishuangbanna, and the elephants came and went in and out of the flock, but also reflected the degree of scientific and technological development in the Western Zhou Dynasty and the ingenuity of the Zhou people. Art comes from life, the ancients took the elephant in life as the theme, made such a wonderful elephant statue, and the physical characteristics of animals and the practical function of utensils are perfectly combined, both beautiful and practical, not only pinning on auspicious and good wishes, but also let us understand the warm and humid climate of the Yellow River Basin three thousand years ago, providing information for the study of historical changes in the climate.
Anthropomorphism and scenery lyricism have always been an important form of expression in our traditional Chinese culture, elephants are empathetic, industrious, intelligent and spiritual, and have been a spiritual beast since ancient times. In traditional Chinese culture, "elephant" is harmoniously pronounced "auspicious" and "xiang", so it is endowed with auspicious meanings, with auspicious wishes and cultural connotations and good wishes, which has a profound influence and a good mass foundation in Chinese folk, and is a symbol of auspiciousness and strength in the minds of the Dai people. Our common theme of "Taiping has an elephant" symbolizes the world's peace and grain abundance, and among many art instruments, pictogram ornaments can also be seen everywhere, bringing us a lot of artistic feelings and beautiful auspicious blessings. Elephants also have a close relationship with Buddhism, and the mount of The Great Disciple of Shakyamuni Bodhisattva recorded in the Buddhist scriptures is the white elephant, and the four legs of the elephant represent the "four ruyi", that is, desire, recitation, perseverance, wisdom and so on, which bring us into the vast Buddhist teachings. The lifelike pictographic bronze figure is full of ancient meaning and is full of unique artistic charm and cultural characteristics.
The cute elephant statue is introduced to you here, and I invite you to recognize the book style about the word "elephant" and see if you can recognize a few.