The bronze statue of the animal head of the zodiac in Yuanmingyuan was originally a part of the fountain outside Haiyan Hall in Yuanmingyuan, and it was a bronze statue of the Qing Dynasty. 1860, the British and French allied forces invaded China and burned Yuanmingyuan, and the bronze statue of the animal head began to be lost overseas.
By 20 12, the bronze statues of bull head, monkey head, tiger head, pig head and horse head had returned to China and were collected in Poly Art Museum. 20 13 On April 26th, French Pino family announced in Beijing that they would donate the bronze mouse heads and rabbit heads of the Twelve Water Methods in Yuanmingyuan to China for free.
The donated mouse head and rabbit head are two of the bronze statues of the 12 zodiac animals lost in the Yuanmingyuan in Beijing. At present, eight animal heads in the Twelve Zodiacs of Yuanmingyuan have returned to China, among which the dragon head is well preserved in Taiwan Province Province, and the whereabouts of the snake head, the chicken head, the dog head and the sheep head are unknown.
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During the Second Opium War, the British and French allied forces burned Yuanmingyuan and plundered twelve bronze animal heads, which led to the loss of these national treasures overseas 140 years. At present, five bronze animal heads of cattle, tigers, monkeys, pigs and horses were rescued by patriots in 2000, 2003 and 2007 respectively, and collected in Poly Art Museum. 1
In 860, the British and French allied forces invaded Beijing, broke into the Yuanmingyuan and looted it. It is impossible to calculate how many treasures they took from Yuanmingyuan. Among the gifts given to the French emperor by the French invading army after returning home alone, there are nearly 10,000 rare antiques. Nowadays, if you want to see the precious cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan, you can only visit Britain and France.
Around May 2000, several pieces of Yuanmingyuan cultural relics were auctioned in Hong Kong cultural relics auction, among which three pieces were bronze heads of cows, monkeys and tigers on the fountain of the zodiac in Haiyan Hall of Xiyang Building.
Tang Haiyan Zodiac Fountain is a fountain clock designed according to China Zodiac. Every hour, the zodiac clock that belongs to the engraving will automatically spray water, and at noon, the zodiac will also spray water at the same time.
The design is extremely exquisite. When Britain and France were robbed, they also regarded it as the most precious treasure. You also get people with special identities.
At the auction, the bronze tiger head sold for 6.5438+0.4 million, the bronze bull head sold for 7 million and the bronze monkey head sold for 7.4 million. It is a little gratifying that these three treasures of Yuanmingyuan were bought by two domestic companies.
The bronze statues of pig's head and horse's head were bought back by Dr. Stanley Ho, a famous patriotic industrialist in Macao Special Administrative Region, for more than 6 million yuan and 60 million yuan, and donated to Poly Art Museum.
Unfortunately, the animal's head is scarred, the monkey's head is flat, and there is a pit the size of a walnut on the right side of the head; The tenon and mortise originally connected with the sprinkler pipe inside the tiger's head have broken, leaving only a handful of beards.
There is also a pit at the top of the pig's head, probably hit by the butt of a gun; At the same time, there are also different degrees of scratches on the tiger's head and cow's head.
Baidu Encyclopedia —— Bronze statue of the animal head of the 12 Zodiac in Yuanmingyuan