My system is not decent

Chapter 1704 Only Unexpected, Nothing Impossible

The Jian styles in the photos are all different. There is a flat-bottomed pair of ears, a narrow mouth, straight neck, shoulders, animal ear rings, a slightly bulging abdomen, and a flat bottom.

There is also a four-eared flat-bottomed, wide mouth, closed mouth and bulging belly, flat bottom, and two pairs of animal head ears.

The other one is also in the four-ear ring-foot style, with a narrow mouth, a neck and shoulders, and two pairs of animal heads and ears, one of which is a ring.

The pair without rings is purely for decoration, the abdomen is rounded, and there are short ring feet under it. This style is smaller.

The last one is the square body with four ears and ring feet, with a square mouth around the neck, round abdomen, four ears in the shape of a dragon, and short square ring feet.

These four bronze mirrors, among this group of bronze wares, can only be regarded as quite satisfactory, not particularly out of the ordinary.

Flipping through the photos, Chen Wenzhe soon discovered a multi-purpose bronze ware, which is a copper appellation fou.

This thing has multiple functions, which can bring considerable convenience to people's life, and this kind of idea and device have existed in our country since ancient times.

An example is this bronze mirror fou from the Warring States period, which can be used to chill wine or heat it up.

Such a bronze mirror fou was unearthed in 1978 in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

The piece is 63.2 cm high and is now in the National Museum.

The one in front of me is also a combination device, which is composed of a bronze mirror and a bronze pot (some people call it a pot).

This bronze mirror is square, with a length and width of 76 centimeters, which can be described as huge.

The decoration along the mouth is particularly eye-catching.

The ornaments at the four corners are in the shape of a ruler, and the ornaments in the middle of each side are rectangular.

These 8 ornaments are covered with carved and embossed panchi patterns.

They are as thin as wool, intertwined with each other, so dense that you can't count the number, but they are arranged in an orderly manner and their shapes are lifelike.

Pairs of small eyes are bright and energetic.

In addition to the embossed hooked cloud pattern and panchi pattern on the outer wall of Jianshen, there are also 8 dragon-shaped ear buttons.

They bowed upwards and made ambush, which was very vivid.

Each of the four corners at the bottom of the body has a beast-shaped foot.

Regardless of the small size of the little beast, it squatted down on the ground, lifted its two front legs, and held the bronze mirror firmly up.

And also made a playful smile, which looks full of strength.

The copper pot is also square, with a cover at the top and a circle of square feet at the bottom, with eye holes on the square feet.

Regarding the function of the holes, at the bottom of the square mirror corresponding to the eye holes of the square feet of the fou, there is a curved bolt hook, which is just inserted into the eye holes of the feet of the fou, so as to prevent the copper fou from floating or toppling.

What's even better is that one of the hooks is also equipped with a barb, which is inserted into the eyehole of the foot of the fou and then falls down automatically, making the copper fou stand more firmly.

The copper mirror has a beautiful square cover decorated with hollow patterns. There is a large square hole in the center of the cover that just fits around the mouth of the square fou. This kind of cover is quite similar to the assembly method of today's thermos bottles.

If you take off the square cover of the bronze mirror and look down at this set of Jianfu, you will see that its shape is like a Chinese character.

The fou is in the middle, and there is a large space between the outer wall of the fou and the inner wall of the Jian. It is this space that makes it have the dual functions of cooling and heating.

In the hot summer season, beverages are filled in the can, and ice cubes are placed in the space, so that people can enjoy ice-cold and delicious beverages.

In Qu Yuan's "Songs of the Chu", there is a poem "drink with ice, make the wine cooler", which expresses the feeling of refreshing with iced liqueur and a full glass of wine.

According to the function of the freezing function of the copper mirror and fou, modern archaeologists study the copper fou of Zeng Houyi and believe that this is an ancient "refrigerator" in my country, and it is the earliest refrigerator seen so far.

If it is mid-winter, it is not difficult for people to drink some hot drinks.

As long as hot water is injected into that space part, the beverage in the can can be heated up.

I don’t know if you have thought of this point: Whether it is the melting of ice cubes or the injection of hot water, a certain buoyancy will be generated, which will affect the stability of the Fou.

The craftsmen at that time must have noticed this problem. The hook device mentioned above made the buoyancy no longer a problem, which also shows the wisdom of the ancients.

It has been a long time since our country used natural frozen fresh-keeping food. In the Western Zhou Dynasty more than 3000 years ago, there were icehouses.

Moreover, it is also equipped with special officials to manage the ice storage, named "Lingren".

Every winter, people cut the ice in the river into big blocks, put them in the cellar, and then seal them up.

During this process, air should be prevented from entering, and this kind of ice can be preserved until the hot summer.

This method has been kept unchanged. In the Forbidden City in the Qing Dynasty, five ice cellars were set up, storing nearly 5 pieces of ice.

Many old people who were born in gods, if they live near the Longxugou described by Mr. Lao She, in that picture every winter, you can see the workers digging and storing ice in the goldfish pond.

"Huh? This one is really similar to Wu Wangfu's chastity!"

Obviously, the person who took the photo is knowledgeable, at least he has classified the same type of bronzes together.

Therefore, now Chen Wenzhe has seen another bronze mirror that is very similar to Wu Wangfu's mirror in terms of decoration and shape.

Obviously, this bronze mirror is not from the Warring States Period, but from the late Spring and Autumn Period.

This vessel is shaped like a big cylinder with a flat bottom.

There are dragon-head-shaped animal ears on both sides of the belly, and there is a small dragon climber mouth beside the mouth between the two ears, which is like a water-exploring mouth.

The whole body is decorated with dense cross-dragon patterns for three weeks, and there is an inscription in two lines of thirteen characters on the inner wall of the vessel, which records that a nobleman used bronze as a mirror, which was used by the court.

It's a pity that Chen Wenzhe's attainments in inscriptions on inscriptions were still a bit lacking, and for a while, he couldn't tell whose imperial use it was.

Besides, the inscriptions on the photos are too small and difficult to read, so Chen Wenzhe didn't rush to study them.

Continuing to look through the photos, Chen Wenzhe was really moved.

This is really a group of ancient tombs of the ancient princely family, all of which have been overturned.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to unearth so many ancient bronze mirrors.

That’s all for the previous ones, but the next few photos let Chen Wenzhe confirm the luxurious life of the ancients.

Until now, the ancient copper is in the same status as the current gold.

In ancient times, princes used gold bathtubs to bathe, look in the mirror, and even wash their faces.

For example, the four-ringed mirror with no inscriptions in front of us is something from the Warring States Period. It is speculated that this shape is the "bathtub" at that time.

And this bronze mirror is not just one piece, it is often matched.

For example, the bronze square mirror fou is for men, and the bronze round mirror fou is for women.

This should be the "husband and wife mirror" of Chu State in the late Warring States period.

The couple's Jian also pointed out another use of the bronze mirror, that is, in the form of a combination of Jian and Fou, it can be used as a wine cooler or warmer, which is called "Jian Fou".

The "Wu Wang Guang Jian" and "Cai Hou Shen Fang Jian" used as dowry are also a combination of circle and square.

Perhaps, in the two countries of Wu and Chu, Fang Jian's rank was slightly higher than Yuan Jian's rank, which showed the hierarchical thinking of men superior to women at that time.

In addition to the function of husband and wife, there is also "father and son learning", which can be said that only us modern people can't think of it, but no ancient people can't do it.

(End of this chapter)