My system is not decent

Chapter 1807 Shangfang Jiajing is really a coincidence, there are gods who don't know their old age

This mirror of the Four Gods Boju was unearthed in 1989 in the Han Tomb in Li Dayang Village, Dayang Town.

It is round, silver-gray, 15.6cm in diameter, 0.4cm thick, with round buttons with holes (for tying), and quatrefoil button seats.

There is a grid outside the mirror button, and a "T" pattern is formed at the midpoints of the four sides of the grid.

Opposite to the "T", the outer ring has an "L" pattern.

The outer ring opposite to the four corners of the grid has a "V" pattern.

These constitute the Boju pattern of the Han Dynasty, and divide the mirror back area into four directions and eight areas.

There are four spirits of basalt, blue dragon, white tiger, red bird and basalt, each with an auspicious beast or auspicious bird.

Surrounded by inscriptions: "Shangfang's beautiful mirror is so ingenious. There are gods on it who don't know how to grow old. They are thirsty to drink Yuquan and hungry to eat, just like the Queen Mother of the West."

There are three layers of decoration on the edge of the mirror, two layers of zigzag patterns, and zigzag patterns in the middle.

This mirror has superb casting technology, complicated composition and delicate and vivid decoration, which can be called a fine product.

When visiting the museum, tourists will ask this question: "Why only the back of the bronze mirror is displayed? Can the front still see people?"

As mentioned before, during the Qijia culture period about 4000 years ago, bronze mirrors appeared in our country, and they were first used as witchcraft props.

In fact, not all bronze mirrors in ancient times were used for face-to-face, and many of them were specially used for burial.

Even if it is a mirror for daily use, after thousands of years of corrosion, the surface of the mirror is mottled and mottled, and it has long lost its ability to reflect.

In ancient times, it required a series of processes to make the bronze mirror reflect a clear human face.

When the bronze mirror was just cast, it was hazy and had to be painted with black tin.

That is, tin is in the form of powder at low temperature (below 13.2°C). After grinding the mirror with black tin, it is oxidized to form a tin oxide crystal film.

This is the commonly seen "black lacquer ancient" appearance;
Then heated to 160°C on fire, the tin monoxide on the surface can turn into tin dioxide, and become the surface of "mercury ancient".

Both tin monoxide and tin dioxide have anti-corrosion ability, and this technology was mastered by our ancestors as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period.

Then, it is sanded with a coarse wool fabric to enhance the reflection effect.

The main reason for showing the mirror back is that the back is more valuable.

Bronze mirrors are a portrayal of history, reflecting the social life at that time in terms of craftsmanship, copper quality, ornamentation, inscriptions, etc., and have extremely high historical, cultural, and artistic values.

It is because of its high value that it has become a custom to bury bronze mirrors.

In the tombs of the Han Dynasty, one or more bronze mirrors were usually buried with them.

The ancients put the bronze mirror in there for two purposes, one is to drive away demons and avoid evil spirits, put them on the tomb passage or hang them on the tomb door, it has the function of "reflecting demons";

The second is to guide the promotion of immortals, and put them in the tomb or coffin to break the darkness and get the light, and become immortals.

Precisely because bronze mirrors were used to ward off evil spirits in ancient times, tomb robbers generally would not take the initiative to take them away.

This funeral custom has been carried on by future generations.

Archeology found that a bronze mirror was usually hung on the tomb door of Liao and Jin tombs.

Bronze mirrors were also hung on the top of the coffin, or on the four walls, and the iron nails rusted and fell off.

In the Ming Dynasty, people also put a bronze mirror in the coffin, and some also put a bronze mirror on the upper part of the front and rear walls of the inner coffin.

It is not too difficult to identify these ancient bronze mirrors, because the decorations on the bronze mirrors have changed in each era, and they all contain rich meanings.

Among the bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty, the Boju mirror can best demonstrate the cultural characteristics of the Han Dynasty.

It originated in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in Xinmang. It embodies the cosmology at that time and has important research value.

The Boju mirror was once known as the regular mirror, and its common pattern is a square outside the mirror button.

At the midpoints of the four sides of the grid, there is a "T"-shaped pattern on each side.

The outer ring opposite to the "T" has an "L"-shaped ornamentation, and the outer ring opposite to the square corners has a "V"-shaped ornamentation.

These "TLV" patterns are actually the chess route map of the game patterns of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the "rule mirror" was renamed "Boju mirror".

Gaming games are won by capturing, and this game was very popular in the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, it has become one of the most numerous decorations on the bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty, implying the peaceful scene of the country's prosperity.

The four-leaf pattern around the round button of the Sishen Boju mirror in the Dongping Museum is also called persimmon pattern.

This is an auspicious pattern that emerged in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and was popular in the Han Dynasty, implying that everything goes well.

There are two breast nails on each side of the grid. The ancients in our country called the breast nails "zi", which generally refers to offspring and males.

In the four directions and eight areas on the back of the mirror, there are four spirits of blue dragon, white tiger, red bird and basalt, each with an auspicious beast or auspicious bird.

The "Four Spirits" originated from the ancient worship of celestial phenomena and stars, and are imaginary animal gods.

Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu respectively represent the east, south, west and north directions and the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

According to legend, guarding the Quartet, subduing demons and eliminating demons, and benefiting the world have always been the traditional popular decorations in our country.

According to archaeological discoveries, inscriptions began to appear on bronze mirrors in the early Western Han Dynasty.

The Sishen Boju mirror in Dongping Museum is surrounded by the inscription "Shangfang's beautiful mirror is so ingenious. There are gods who don't know how to grow old. They are thirsty to drink from Yuquan and hungry to eat, just like the Queen Mother of the West".

This reflects the spiritual pursuit of the people of the Han Dynasty, who longed for Taoism and immortality.

"Shangfang" is an institution specializing in the manufacture of swords, weapons, and rare clothes and toys for the royal family. It existed in the Qin Dynasty and was well-known in the Han Dynasty.

The mirror has the word "Shangfang" and is well-crafted, so it is most likely an official casting.

However, at that time, private workshops often falsely used the inscription "Shangfang as a mirror".

The bronze mirrors of the Han Dynasty have complicated patterns and rich meanings.

For example, the three-legged golden crow (symbolizes the sun), the toad (symbolizes the moon), the jade rabbit smashes medicine (symbolizes immortality), the nine-tailed fox (symbolizes peace in the world), the flounder (symbolizes love), the feathered man (symbolizes ascension to heaven), and the Queen Mother of the West (symbolizes ascension to heaven). symbolizes immortality) and so on.

The most famous allusion to the bronze mirror is "a broken mirror reunited".

When Nanchen died, Xu Deyan, the son-in-law of the Chen Kingdom, and his wife, Princess Lechang, expected that the husband and wife would be separated.

So they divided a bronze mirror into two, and agreed that every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, they would go to Chang'an market to sell the mirror as a means of contact.

Later, Xu Deyan was exiled in the rivers and lakes, and Princess Lechang became the concubine of Yang Su, an important minister of the Sui Dynasty.

In the second year, Xu Deyan arrived in Chang'an as scheduled, and he saw someone selling half a piece of bronze mirror.

As a result, Xu Deyan learned of his wife's whereabouts, and the two secretly contacted each other.

Later, Yang Su knew about this matter and was moved by their true feelings, so he sent someone to summon Xu Deyan into the mansion, and let the husband and wife return to their hometown in Jiangnan.

This love story has also become the theme of literati singing in the past dynasties.

Bronze mirror, which appeared in the Qijia culture and disappeared in the late Qing Dynasty. After nearly 4000 years, it is the utensil with the longest and widest range of use among bronze wares, and it has also been deeply integrated into social life and cultural consciousness.

For example, people often say "the bright mirror hangs high", "the flower in the mirror and the moon in the water", "the hairpin breaks the mirror", "taking history as a mirror" and so on.

These all reflect the bronze mirror culture, which has become an integral part of Chinese culture.

Modern scholar Qian Zhongshu, when reading the allusion of "a broken mirror reunited", thought that the bronze mirror is so strong, how could it be easily split into two?

In order to clear up doubts, Qian Zhongshu threw more than a dozen bronze mirrors in his collection to the ground one by one, but none of them broke.

So he came to the conclusion that "bronze mirrors are not easy to break", and wrote it in the book "Guan Zhui Bian".

(End of this chapter)