My system is not decent

Chapter 1399 The Bronze Vessel with the Most Inscriptions

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Sioux City was reduced to an enemy-occupied area, which coincided with the death of Pan Zunian, the head of the Pan family.

Because there are no elders in the family to make decisions, the young people of the Pan family don't want to let devils get this important national treasure.

In the end, after some negotiations, the young people of the Pan family buried all the cultural relics including the Da Yu Ding.

In the next few years, criminals coveted these buried treasures from time to time.

Fortunately, the Dayu Ding survived miraculously and was not stolen.

After the victory of the War of Liberation, the Pan family witnessed the prosperity of the motherland, and also saw the best destination of Da Yu Ding.

This time, the Pan family got together again and made arrangements for the future of Da Yu Ding.

At that time, the eldest in the clan was Pan Zuyin's granddaughter-in-law Pan Dayu.

Ms. Pan proposed to donate the Great Yu Ding to the motherland, and this proposal was unanimously approved by the elders of the Pan family.

In this way, a hundred years after it was unearthed, this big Yuding was displayed in the exhibition area of ​​the Maritime Museum for the public to visit.

In 1959, when the Museum of History (now the National Museum) opened, the Da Yu Ding was transferred to the capital and became the first batch of national treasures to participate in the exhibition.

Later, the Great Yu Ding was officially settled in the National Museum, and we can still see its style at the National Expo today.

Obviously, in the incompetent Manchu Dynasty, the court had no power to maintain this important weapon of the country;

In the era of the Republic of China under the rule of warlords, this national treasure could not be properly protected.

Only in New China, where the country is prosperous and the people are strong, can this great Yu Ding bloom the most brilliant light, telling the people of the time the past that has been covered in dust in the sea of ​​history.

As for the legend of Xiaoyu Ding, this vessel died during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Another theory is that the Yuan family in Xiangcheng actually hid the vessel and buried it in the ground, but its location is unknown today.

Although the original Xiao Yu Ding has been lost, the Xiao Yu Ding has always been one of the most famous bronze wares.

Because its inscription is about [-] characters long, it is the bronze inscription with the largest number of characters in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.

Its content is of great significance for exploring the history and laws and regulations at that time.

The small Yu Ding is also a bronze vessel of King Kang of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In recent years, researches have mostly pointed to the bronze vessels of King Zhou Zhao, which was unearthed at the same time as the Big Yu Ding.

There must be a reason why these bronze tripods are famous.

For example, the Maogong Ding - the bronze vessel with the longest inscription.

Big Yu Ding - one of the "Four National Treasures" and "Three Domestic Treasures" in the late Qing Dynasty.

And Xiao Yu Ding - the bronze vessel with the largest number of inscriptions in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.

Such a famous treasure disappeared mysteriously.

Therefore, the national treasure, Da Yu Ding, also has a "mysterious" elder brother, Xiao Yu Ding, which few people know.

Here we must see clearly that it is the elder brother, not the brother.

It was not easy to lose this piece during the Republic of China and turn it into a mystery treasure tripod.

Many people now know that there is a large Yu Ding in the history museum of our country.

But there are more people who don't know that Da Yu Ding also has an elder brother named Xiao Yu Ding.

Have you been misled by the name before?Big and small Yu Ding, the heads are definitely arranged according to the size.

This is really not the case. According to the logic, Big Yuding is the elder brother, while Xiao Yuding is the younger brother.

Here, why is it reversed?
How did it become that Da Yuding is the younger brother and Xiao Yuding is the older brother?
Why is the order of this pair of Yu Ding reversed?
Why did Xiaoyu Ding lose?There are reasons for this.

In fact, all this began in the 1850th year of Daoguang, that is, in [-].

Another rich man in Fengming Town, Mei County, Western Shaanxi, was named Song Zhaokui.

This rich man of the Song Dynasty has read poetry and books. Although he has served as a lecturer in Nanzheng County, a professor in Hanzhong Mansion, etc., he is a small official of Zhima.

He simply let his son study hard and devote himself to business.

After years of operation, the Song family has become the biggest rich man in the area.

After Song Zhaokui became rich, he felt that floating wealth such as gold and silver was really easy to lose. It would be safer to keep a treasure that can be passed down to the family and leave it to future generations.

It just so happened that there was a rich man in Lijia Village in Changxing Town, Meixian County, who wanted to sell a big Yu Ding.

He used a cart of silver, estimated at 3000 taels, to buy this heavy bronze vessel from the Western Zhou Dynasty and bring it home.

This Western Zhou bronze ware is the Great Yu Ding with a height of 101.9 cm, a diameter of 77.8 cm, and a weight of 153.5 kg.

Even more precious is that there are 291-character inscriptions inside.

The content of the inscription is that Zhou Kangwang exhorted the minister "Yu". Keep in mind the lesson that "the Yin Dynasty died because of alcoholism, and the Zhou Dynasty prospered by avoiding alcohol". Yu Ding.

Not long after, the rich man dug out a larger bronze tripod under the earth cliff where he found the Great Yu Ding.

After Song Zhaokui heard the news, he spared no expense to buy the second bronze tripod, which weighs more than 500 jins and is about 110 centimeters high, which is more "mighty" than the Dayu tripod, and bought it at home.

The second larger bronze tripod was also rewarded by Zhou Kangwang to the minister "Yu", so how to name it?

You can't call it old Yu Ding, or call it Chao Yu Ding, right?
Although the second bronze tripod is large in size, the inscription of more than 400 characters inside is somewhat small, so it was named Xiaoyu Ding by Song Zhaokui.

A small tripod weighing about 300 catties becomes a big Yu tripod.

And the big tripod weighing about 500 catties becomes the small Yu tripod.

There is a saying in "Mulan Poetry" that two rabbits walk side by side, and An Neng can tell whether I am male or female-if you don't explain it clearly, you will not be able to tell which tripod is bigger and which is smaller.

Generally, those who don’t know about antiques can call them whatever they want.

So, in modern times, why hasn't this mistake been corrected?

In fact, this involves the naming rules for bronze wares.

In the academic world, there is a basic principle for naming bronze vessels with inscriptions, that is, the name of the owner + the name of the vessel.

For example, the famous wall plate unearthed in the No. [-] cellar of Fufengzhuang, Shaanxi, is named based on the owner’s name “Wall” and the object is a plate.

In most cases, the name of the owner of the utensil will be preceded by an official or clan. For example, the wall plate is also called the historical wall plate, because the wall was a historian in the Zhou Dynasty.

In the absence of the owner's name, the utensil is named after the object of the utensil, such as the Simu Wu Fang Ding, which is the Fang Ding made by the female ancestor with the temple name Wu.

However, archaeologists often come across different bronze wares belonging to the same owner, so scholars use the time of the wares to distinguish them.

Such as the seven-year-old Cao Ding in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the thirteen-year-old Cao Ding.

Five Sacrifice Wei Ding and Nine Sacrifice Wei Ding!

The forty-two-year-old Ding Ding and the forty-three-year-old Ding Ding in the late Western Zhou Dynasty.

The big Yu Ding hidden in the National Museum and its "brother" Xiao Yu Ding are quite peculiar.

The date of the former inscription is "[-] years", while the latter is "[-] years", and some scholars believe that it is [-] years.

Then, according to the principle of naming bronze wares, the two wares should be called "[-]rd Yuding" and "[-]th Yuding" respectively.

If it is calculated according to the age in this way, the big ones are really big, and the small ones are small, that's right!

(End of this chapter)