Yuanmingyuan ma shou goes home
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and National Cultural Heritage Administratio
Yuanmingyuan ma shou goes home
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and National Cultural Heritage Administration held a donation ceremony for the bronze horse head statue of Yuanmingyuan in China National Museum. In order to better implement the international consensus of cultural relics protection that the lost cultural relics return to their original territories, National Cultural Heritage Administration, after consulting with Mr. Stanley Ho, transferred the horse head to the management office of Beijing Yuanmingyuan for collection and return to its original territories.
The bronze statue of the horse's head in Yuanmingyuan in the Qing Dynasty is one of the main components of the fountain of the animal head of the zodiac outside Haiyan Hall, the west building complex of Changchun Garden in Yuanmingyuan. 1860, British and French troops invaded Beijing, and Yuanmingyuan was looted and burned. The bronze statue of the horse's head, etc. 1 1 The bronze statue of the animal's head has been lost overseas.
The bronze statue of Horsehead was designed by Italian Lang Shining, which combines the artistic concepts and design styles of the East and the West. It was made by court craftsmen during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Made of refined copper, it has a deep and heavy color and is cast by lost wax method. Its expression is lifelike, its hair is perfect, and it does not rust after a hundred years of wind and rain, showing a very high level of craftsmanship. This is an extraordinary work of art in ancient China.
Over the years, with the joint efforts of National Cultural Heritage Administration and all walks of life, six bronze statues of lost animal heads in Yuanmingyuan, including cattle, monkeys, tigers, pigs, rats and rabbits, have returned to the motherland in different ways.
Characteristics of twelve animal heads
The bronze statue of the zodiac is a stone carving, dressed in robes, with a realistic head and fine casting. The wrinkles and fluff on the animal's head are clear and realistic. The material for casting the animal head was refined copper from the Qing court at that time. Dark appearance, clean connotation, a hundred years of rust, a must.
According to textual research, the bronze statues of the 12 zodiac animals were arranged on both sides of a pool in front of Haiyan Hall in Yuanmingyuan, and were called "hydraulic clocks" by people at that time. Every day, the bronze statues of the zodiac will spray water in turn, representing different periods of the day. At noon, the twelve elephants will spray at the same time. Tang Haiyan Zodiac Fountain is a fountain clock designed according to China Zodiac. Every time, the zodiac clock belonging to that time will automatically spray water. At noon 12 o'clock, the animals of the zodiac spray water at the same time, and the design is extremely beautiful.
The main building of Haiyan Hall faces west, with eleven rooms above and eleven rooms below. There is a cascade fountain at the left and right of the building door, and a big fountain at the bottom of the steps. The bronze statues of the head of the Chinese zodiac are arranged on the left and right sides of the pool in a figure of eight. Every other day and night for twelve hours, the Chinese zodiac sprays water in turn, commonly known as the "hydraulic clock".
The zodiac image was originally on the 12 stone platform on the north and south sides of the fan-shaped pool spray platform in front of Haiyan Hall in the west building of Yuanmingyuan. On the south bank are rats, silver tigers, dragons, afternoon horses, monkeys and dogs. There are ugly cows, rabbits, snakes, sheep, chickens and pigs on the north shore.
These portraits are all animal heads, including copper heads and stone bodies, which are connected by water spray pipes in the hollow. Every hour (two hours), representing the image of the Chinese zodiac at that time, water is sprayed from the mouth; At noon, the fountain gushed out from the mouth of the zodiac at the same time, becoming a spectacle. These bronze zodiac statues are 50 cm high and beautifully carved, making them one of the most exquisite bronzes in the Qing Dynasty.
In the center of the pool is a clam stone carving about two meters high, and there are six stone seats on both sides of the pool, which are in a figure of eight. Each stone is carved with the head of a beast in a robe. The head and body are made of copper. They are arranged according to the laws of the Chinese zodiac in China. Every hour (two hours today), the head of the animal at that time sprayed water in its mouth, and the water was injected into the pool in a parabolic shape, that is, at midnight (from 23: 00 to 65438+ 0: 00 the next day), a water column was ejected from the mouth of the bronze statue of the mouse head; When it is ugly (1: 00 to 3: 00), a water column is ejected from the mouth of the bronze bull's head.
At noon 12, except the horse's head continued to spray water, the mouths of the other eleven bronze animals also sprayed water columns together, and the scene was spectacular in an instant. Therefore, people can know the time as long as they see the water from the mouth of the head of the Chinese zodiac. This group of fountains is a huge and unique hydraulic clock.