Grand bronze standing statue
What is the grand bronze standing statue?
The bronze standing figure, 1.8 meters high and 2.62 meters high [1], was unearthed in 1986 in the No. 2 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui . Weighing approximately 180 kilograms, it is a bronze vessel with a history of over 3000 years now. It's existing in Sanxingdui Museum.
The bronze standing portrait is the highest and most complete existing bronze standing portrait. Known as the "King of the World's Bronze Statues".
Advantages
Carving and Casting Technology:
The statue is embedded and cast using a segmented casting method, with a hollow body and divided into two parts: a portrait and a base. The portrait wears a high crown on the head and a three-layer garment with narrow sleeves and half arms. The patterns on the garment are complex and exquisite, mainly dragon patterns, supplemented by bird patterns, insect patterns, and eye patterns. The body is adorned with checkered patterns, which are exquisitely crafted and delicate. So far, they are unparalleled in the archaeological history of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. Its hands are hollow in the shape of a circular grip, and its arms are slightly wrapped around the chest. Wearing foot bracelets, standing barefoot on a square monster pedestal. Its overall image is solemn and dignified, seemingly portraying a great figure with extraordinary talent and divine power who is doing things.
The square platform it stands on can be understood as the dojo of its practice - the altar or mountain.
Mystery of Identity
This "monument" style statue of a large upright person has prominent eyes, prominent ears, a high and straight nose, slender lips, hands high and low, embracing the chest, and hands in a virtual grip. Its appearance differs greatly from that of people from the Central Plains. What identity does it symbolize? This still needs further investigation. Nowadays, there are several different opinions in the academic community: one view holds that the Bronze Daliren is the image of a generation of Shu kings, who are both political kings and the masters of witchcraft; Another view is that it is the image of Theocracy leaders in ancient Shu.
There is another opinion that its image resembles the shape of the "corpse" character in ancient Chinese characters, and it should be interpreted as "standing a corpse". The "corpse" referred to in this viewpoint generally has the dual identity of the chief mourner who presides over the worship ceremony and the recipient who serves as a symbol of the gods. The opposite viewpoint holds that the portrait has a completely different connotation from the so-called "standing corpse" or "sitting corpse" in ancient literature.
We tend to believe that he is the most authoritative leader of the ancient Shu state in Sanxingdui, integrating the identities of gods, witches, and kings, and is a symbol of the highest power of divine and royal power. The square patterned belt decoration on a portrait should have the characteristic of representing authority as a "Dharma belt". The several sets of dragon pattern decorations on his clothes seem to have a sense of empathy and infiltration with the gods, and the clothes he is wearing are likely the magic clothes of a wizard.
What is in hand
Since its excavation, experts and scholars have been continuously conducting inferences and research on the "objects" held by bronze standing figures. Curious netizens have even sparked a wave of creative frenzy online, but until now, this "unsolved mystery" has not been determined.
The "scepter theory": The clothes of the bronze Dali people have narrow sleeves, a left lapel, and a swallowtail shaped back end. The patterns are mainly dragon patterns, including animal face patterns, bird patterns, insect patterns, and loop patterns. They are complex and exquisite, and are praised by experts as the "earliest dragon robe in China". For such a figure dressed in splendid attire and standing on a high platform, there are various theories in the academic community, such as the Great Wizard, the King of Shu, or the Great Wizard and King of Shu. Regardless of which theory is used, the statue represents not the lower class figures at the time, but rather the upper class nobles of the ancient ethnic group or ancient country who hold religious or political power. Therefore, many experts have speculated that the Dali people may have held a scepter. In the Sanxingdui, a golden scepter, 143 cm long and 2.3 cm in diameter, was unearthed. It was a symbol of Political power and religious power at that time, and was used by the highest political and religious figures in ancient Shu.
The "Ivory Theory": The hollow parts of the hands of the large upright figure are not in a straight line. After connecting the two, it was found that there is an arc between their hands. Therefore, some experts boldly speculate that the large curved object held by the large upright person may be ivory. This speculation is not unfounded, as tons of ivory have been cleared from the 2nd sacrificial pit in Sanxingdui. And on a parallelogram jade zhang unearthed in Jinsha, there is a kneeling figure, wearing a high crown and robe, kneeling on both knees, and the object on the shoulder is also very similar to a complete ivory.
The Jade Cong Theory ": Wan Jiao, an associate researcher at the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, once stated in the" Hundred Lectures "that Dali people do not necessarily hold objects that can run through their left and right hands, and they can also hold one object in each hand. The center of the hands of the Dali portrait is circular, and when held outside, there are naturally edges and corners. Some experts naturally associate that the jade cong unearthed from Sanxingdui happens to be an outer and inner circle, which was also a ritual tool used by ancient people to worship gods. Therefore, experts speculate that the Dali portrait is likely to hold a jade cong in each hand.
Pose theory ": During the process of constantly inferring and overturning the objects in hand, some experts have raised the question of whether Daliren's hand was only exaggerated, but did not hold anything. The bronze standing statue is not the only one held in both hands in the Sanxingdui sacrificial pit. For example, there are three kneeling guards on the tree seat of the second large copper tree, with arms raised to the shoulder. Like the standing statue, it is also held in a hollow circular shape with the right hand above and the left hand below, except that the range of movements is larger and the standing statue is smaller; There is also a bronze man wearing a beast's head crown, with his arms raised flat to his shoulders, his right hand above and his left hand below. His hands are also held in a hollow circular shape, but his movements are smaller, and his right little finger is slightly raised. They all act as if they are in a certain scene, with worship actions, or the same set of sacrificial actions frozen at different time points, or people of different identity levels have specific actions that match their respective identities.Professor Sun Hua from the School of Archaeology and Culture at Peking University speculated that in ancient Shu culture, this posture may represent a very important ceremony, which could be a language expression or a representation of meaning, so there may not be something in hand.
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