Inherit For Three Thousand Years

When he came to the first treasure room, Iwasaki Shinichi apologized and said, "Mr. Xiao, the antiques and cultural relics shipped back from various places are rather messy. I haven't had time to sort them out. Please bear with them."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter whether they are classified or not." Regardless of whether these antique cultural relics are classified or not, they have to be seen one by one. Xiao Yao doesn't mind this.

In this treasure room, there are about 70 or 80 objects. Xiao Yao looked more carefully, and it took a long time.

He appreciates these collections of the Iwasaki family, not only to find the most precious training objects, but also to select some of the more precious Chinese antique cultural relics.

This time he obtained too many precious cultural relics from Fujiwara’s treasures, and exchanged collections with several museums. Only a small part was used. Now there is still a large part left. For the remaining part, he plans to give priority to the remaining part. The Iwasaki family exchanged.

I have to say that the Iwasaki family, which has a history of more than 100 years, does have a deep heritage, and the third cultural relic he saw is very precious.

This is a gilded bronze horse from the Western Han Dynasty. It is about 70 cm high. It is very well preserved. If it is not for some subtle places with obvious traces of time, it is almost a new product that has just been cast.

This gilt bronze galloping horse has a realistic shape, full muscles, strong bones, well-proportioned and harmonious posture, and lifelike dynamics. If viewed from the front, people will mistakenly think that a golden galloping horse is running oncoming.

The horse body is cast in bronze and hollow, showing the momentary dynamics of a galloping horse. The horse is a male, with head and ears upright, lips and teeth open, round nostrils, and neighing jets; the neck is thick, the hips and abdomen are tight, the tail knot is raised backwards; the limbs are strong and powerful, the wrists are thin and the hooves are large, and the performance is fast and fast. , Good form and spirit.

"I want this gilt bronze running horse from the Western Han Dynasty."

This rare boutique should not be missed. Xiao Yao believes that there will not be too many cultural relics of this level in the collection of the Iwasaki family.

"Mr. Xiao, is this gilt bronze running horse from the Western Han Dynasty? I don't know much about the cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty, and I have to ask you for advice." Iwasaki Shinichi said.

Xiao Yao said: "It is indeed in the Western Han Dynasty. The characteristics of this cultural relic are still very obvious, and it is not difficult to tell the story.

The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Horse Yuan said: ‘The horse is the foundation of the armor and the great use of the country. Horses play an important role in the strength and weakness of the country and have been valued since ancient times. Due to the need to fight against the Huns, the Han Dynasty attached great importance to improving horse breeds, and specially introduced sweat-blooded BMWs from the Western Regions. Therefore, the sculpture horses of the Han Dynasty had a distinctive charm and temperament in the history of arts and crafts and were deeply loved by collectors. "

Shinichi Iwasaki continued to ask humbly, "This horse has a distinctive feature on its face, with a horn-shaped flesh crown between its ears. Will this be an important basis for dating?"

"You look very carefully, this is indeed an important basis. According to the Western Han silk book "Xiangma Jing" from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, the size of the flesh crown is related to the speed of the Mercedes-Benz: it is one inch long and travels three hundred a day. It is three inches long and travels thousands of miles per day. According to the record of Yang Fu's "Foreign Objects" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dawanma has several inches of meat horns.

These are enough to show that the horse was cast in Dawan.

This galloping horse is vigorous and sturdy, and its gallop is on the opposite side. It combines the advantages of the Hexi horse, Dawan horse, Mongolian horse and other horse breeds. It is obviously modeled according to the standard of a good horse. "

The artistic level of this galloping horse is very high. Xiao Yao likes it very much, so he continues to popularize science for these half buckets of water or laymen. "The bronze ware has been in line with the political, economic, technological, and cultural history of the time since its birth. Art is closely related to beliefs and aesthetics, reflecting and reflecting strong cultural connotations. The bronze art of our country has its first peak during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties; by the late Spring and Autumn Period, bronzes have undergone profound changes from content to form, and appear The second peak period was reached; the bronze culture of the Qin and Han Dynasties and beyond opened up a new world with a brand-new trend. This is the third peak period.

You see, this gilt horse of the Western Han Dynasty is a male horse. The horse has a bowed neck, vertical ears, lip showing teeth, rounded nostrils, neighing jets, and the right front hoof straddles outwards. The horse is running like a stride, with a leather blanket attached to the back of the horse. There is a row of seven **** patterns on the front and back of the leather blanket, with knots on the tail, and gilt all over the body.

This horse has a well-proportioned shape and a powerful shape. It artistically reproduces the most beautiful artistic conception of a galloping horse. It not only contains the extremely high ideological connotation of that era, but also perfectly embodies the eternal artistic charm of the casting process of the Han Dynasty. It is no exaggeration to say that this is an immortal masterpiece in the art of bronze sculpture! "

Xiao Yao spoke highly of it, but this gilt bronze running horse in the Western Han Dynasty deserves such praise.

If the Western Han Dynasty gilt bronze galloping horse is valued, it will definitely not be less than 60 million yuan. This shows how precious this galloping horse sculpture is.

Next, Xiao Yao looked at a Ming Xuande lacquerware, a Tang Dynasty bronze mirror, and a Song Dynasty fine folk kiln porcelain. These cultural relics are also very precious, but compared to the Western Han Dynasty horse racing, there are still many Xiao Yao did not pick out the big gap.

Seeing the next cultural relic waiting, Xiao Yao's eyes suddenly brightened, this turned out to be a Shang Dynasty Kangding Fangyi!

This Fang Yi is about 40 cm high, has a burly shape, a thick wall, a luxurious mouth, a straight short neck, a curved abdomen, a high circle of feet, and an extravagant edge. There is a doorway on each side. gap.

There is no doubt that this is a rare national treasure, "I want this piece of Kangding Fangyi from the Shang Dynasty."

"Is this bronze ware called Fang Yi? I like bronze ware very much, but I still don't know the name of bronze ware." Iwasaki Shinichi asked humbly.

"Yi is a general term for ritual vessels in ancient bronzes. Fang Yi first appeared in the late Shang Dynasty. Its cross-section is short and horizontal, like an ancient palace building. Most of the vessels have four or eight ridges), commonly known as Chuji.

Fang Yi is one of the highest-ranking bronze wares. Five Fang Yi pieces were unearthed from the tomb of Wu Ding's concubine and wife, including a puppet Yi with a curved wall and bulging belly. Fang Yi has a unique shape and exquisite decorations, but the quantity is relatively small. "

Iwasaki Shinichi pointed to the exquisite patterns on the bronzes and asked, "I think the patterns on this are very special. Is this a gluttonous pattern?"

"It is indeed the gluttonous pattern, also called the animal face pattern. The most admirable thing about this bronze is its ingenious design and the exquisite patterns cast on it.

The main pattern of Kangding Fangyi is the animal face pattern with wide-mouthed tusks and drum horns. It used to be called gluttonous pattern. These animal face patterns are arranged in the corners of the four walls. The bulges of Yi highlight the three-dimensional sense of the animal face, and achieve the harmony and unity of the shape and decoration. The bottom of each animal face is decorated with a circular pattern composed of seven small breasts. The layout is precise and dense. There is a degree.

The Kuilong pattern on the neck and the legs is also centered on the four corners of the ridge, arranged in pairs. Viewed from the front of the four walls, it is the Kuilong walking opposite to each other. Viewed from the four corners, there are four groups of animal face patterns. The animal face pattern on the abdomen matches the master and slave, complementing each other, presenting the fierce beauty of Fang Yi's decoration.

The ground pattern adopts the hair-like cloud and thunder pattern, swirling and winding, meticulous, and the workmanship is very precise.

This Fang Yi model has similarities with Fuhaoou Fang Yi and Lei Fang Yi, but it is closer to the Wanfu Fang Yi in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The decoration and inscription characters have the characteristics of the late Shang Dynasty, so its era should be determined to be in the Shang Dynasty. The latter part of the late period was around the time of Emperor Yi and Emperor Xin. "

"It turns out that the ornamentation on the above has such a profound knowledge. Today is really a long knowledge. I don't know what the inscription on this is written?" Iwasaki Shinichi continued to play the role of a fan.

"This bronze vessel has 26 characters inscribed on the inner bottom. There are many opinions about the interpretation of the inscriptions. For example, the four characters in the front are read as Kang Ding Nv Pan and the other as Kang Nv Ding Pan. I Personally think it should be read as Kangding mother dish.

"Female" and "Mother" are the differentiation of the same word, so they should be pronounced as "Mother" here. The words "Kang" and "Kong" are the names of the objects of sacrifice. The King of Xia has Kong Jia, and the King of Shang has Kang Ding.

In ancient times, the princes could be called Kongjia and Kangding, and ordinary nobles could also use them. "Mu Kangding" was the leader's mother named Kangding.

This Fang Yi is a ritual vessel cast by the head of the clan to sacrifice to his mother Kangding. Therefore, according to the general rule of naming bronze wares, the Fang Yi should be called Mu Kang Ding Fang Yi, or simply Kang Ding Fang Yi.

In short, Kangding Fangyi has a burly shape, thick walls, fine castings, luxurious and handsome decorations, cast inscriptions, and an orderly spread. It is a treasure in the art treasure house of Chinese bronzes.

In addition to its high artistic value and historical research value, it also set the precedent for the art style of Fang Yi in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and provided physical data for the development and evolution of Fang Yi. "

This bronze ware is a real national treasure, and it is also a national treasure with an orderly heritage. There are records of this national treasure in many records. But such a precious national treasure had no news in the 1930s.

I have not heard about this national treasure bronze for nearly 100 years. I did not expect such a precious national treasure to be collected by the Iwasaki family.

If it hadn't been for Xiao Yao to come to the collection room of the Iwasaki family, when this national treasure was returned to Zhao, I still don't know when.

"Mr. Xiao, this bronze ware was purchased by my grandfather from Italy in the 1960s. Because there are so many inscriptions on this bronze ware, my father thought it was precious when he saw this bronze ware, so it cost nothing. I bought it for a small price."

Shinichi Iwasaki was worried that Xiao Yao would mistakenly believe that this bronze was a cultural relic looted from China during the war, so he deliberately explained it.

"Then your grandfather's vision is very good, and very lucky." No matter whether Iwasaki Shinichi's words are true or false, it doesn't matter anymore. The important thing is that this national treasure is destined to be brought back to China by him.

The dozens of cultural relics I will look at next are not very precious, not to mention that they are not compared with the Shang dynasty bronzes worth at least 300 million yuan, and even compared with the Western Han gilt bronze galloping horses.

It wasn't until his gaze fell on the body of a pure golden beast that his eyes lit up.

This is a piece of Qianlong gold inlaid with a hundred treasures and beasts in the Qing Dynasty. The gold is brilliant, the treasures are dazzling, and it looks unusually luxurious!

This incense is shaped by copper gilt craftsmanship. It is shaped like a beast. The top of the bottle is open, and the neck is integrated with the back of the beast. The body of the beast is the main body of the fragrance, and the tail is rolled inward. Look up, open the mouth with teeth, use the techniques of intaglio and relief to depict the details, use agate, tourmaline, white jade, turquoise, lapis lazuli and other gemstones to inlay the animal body to express red, white, blue, purple, green, and brown , Black and other colors, magnificent, majestic and majestic, exquisite carving, lifelike image, full of grace and wealth, full of royal style.

The history of incense has a long history in our country. The famous Boshan stove in the Han Dynasty was designed by people for incense. Bronze was originally used as the material for aromatherapy, initially just to incense clothing, relieve fatigue and disperse mosquitoes and so on. After the Han dynasty, the materials of incense were gradually enriched, and its use began to change from a practical utensil to an ornamental item for display or play.

The production and use of incense in the Qing Dynasty entered a prosperous period. The main hall, study room, and inner bedroom of the Forbidden City were equipped with huge smokers up to three or four feet high. Most of them were fine products such as cloisonné enamel. Exquisite top quality, demonstrating the royal luxury and noble style.