The Differences between Bronze Portraits and Bronze Masks
In the summer of 1986, two burial pits were excavated in Sanxingdui, and many artifacts were unearthed. Among them, three handle shaped convex mesh bronze masks were unearthed from Pit 2. The larger one is 66 centimeters high and 138 centimeters wide, with the eyeball protruding 16 centimeters towards the outer column of the orbit, with a diameter of 13.5 centimeters, and a so-called hoop in the middle that is 2.8 centimeters wide (see Figure 1); The smaller one is 31.5 centimeters high, 82.5 centimeters high, and 77.4 centimeters wide, with the eyeball protruding 9 centimeters outward from the orbital column; The other piece is 31.7 centimeters high, 84.3 centimeters high, and 78 centimeters wide. Most scholars refer to these types of bronze masks as "vertical eye masks", where the eyeballs protrude in a columnar shape outside the orbit.
This large bronze mask was first unearthed and was referred to as the 'Vertical Eye Mask'. Mr. Chen De'an once said, "On August 27th, 1986, the excavation of the 2nd sacrificial pit officially began... The first thing we saw was a 138 centimeter wide copper longitudinally oriented beast mask - with a wide mouth and slightly extended tongue tip, a long round eyeball protruding nearly 20 centimeters outward, and square shaped ears protruding from both sides. Based on its special shape, some people immediately associated it with the legendary image of the ancestor of the Shu King, the 'Silkworm Cong Longmu', and exclaimed, 'This is Silkworm Cong'.
In 1989, the Bulletin on the Excavation of Sanxingdui No. 2 Sacrificial Pit in Guanghan, compiled by Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee, etc., said that the three eye-catching cylindrical heads of the audience were "human face images", and the Sichuan Museum's "Bashu Bronze Ware" said that "bronze human face images of type 252 A." In 1992, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Sichuan Province and other chief editors of the Selected Cultural Relics Unearthed in Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pit referred to the above heads as "human face images with a wide view". Chapter 7 of Sanxingdui Culture, edited by Qu Xiaoqiang, et al.: "Bronze human faces are the ancestor gods worshipped by the Shu people, the images of silkworm clusters recorded in Chronicles of Huayang and other ancient books, and the ancestor idols of the ancient Shu people." Later, the above views were gradually followed.
In 1992, Mr. Chen De'an proposed a new viewpoint of "animal masks" in his study on bronze masks unearthed from the Sanxingdui sacrificial pit, Say: This bronze animal mask is far from the bronze human mask unearthed at the same time, rather than a human mask. The excavation report states that it appears inappropriate for an adult mask or a human face... The long and pointed animal ears resemble elephant ears, with large gaps in the mouth, tongue out, nose wings curled up in a vortex like a cow's nose, and the jaw extending forward. These are all animal characteristics that can be regarded as symbols of the species; as for the eyes protruding outward in a cylindrical shape, it is even more rare in real life Monster image... If the real beast mask is a symbol of Silkworm Cong, it only indicates that Silkworm Cong transformed from a natural god to an ancestor god, which is considered as the 'pet god and ancestor' of later generations, and is not an idol of the ancestors of Shu people. These 'forms of a hundred things' or animal masks represent various natural deities... "The above insights are very valuable and worthy of attention.
By the year 2000, Mr. Chen De'an's "Sanxingdui - Holy Land of the Ancient Shu Kingdom" had undergone changes, as if it was a change in conformity with the crowd, despite the widespread belief that it was a "blind eye". The book states: There are two types of animal masks: human masks unearthed from Sanxingdui and animal masks representing the ancestors of Shu people. Animal masks... have large animal ears, long knife eyebrows, and curved prismatic eyeballs protruding more than ten centimeters forward, pulling out the eye muscles and attaching them to the eyeballs. From the perspective of shape, it looks like humans are not humans, and animals are not beasts. It is a divine image that integrates humans and animals... The vertical eyed animal masks unearthed from Sanxingdui, symbolizing the ancestors of Shu people, Silkworm Cong, are a pair of particularly prominent and forward facing animal masks The eyes stretching out and the towering Kui dragon like forehead decoration... 'Silkworm Pondering Eyes' should be related to the rainy and foggy natural environment where Shu people live in Chengdu Plain. " In 2001, the editor in chief of the Sichuan Provincial Tourism Bureau's "Entering Sichuan" referred to the above-mentioned cylindrical convex eye mask as the "bronze vertical eye mask".
Subsequently, there was a new interpretation of the aforementioned "vertical mask". Xiao Ping's "Sanxingdui: The Light of Bronze Shines on the World" states about the eye-catching bronze mask: Its ears exhibit obvious animal characteristics... while its eyeballs break through the orbit and protrude forward in a columnar shape, similar to those of the crab order... If the eyeballs truly protrude outward in a columnar shape, it will inevitably be affected by external factors such as sunlight, branches, wind and sand, and rain... Therefore, the legend of 'Silkworm Cong Zongmu' should be a subjective deification of their tribal leaders by the ancient Shu people... In recent years, some researchers have even proposed based on the Zongmu mask The novel statement that people from Sanxingdui suffer from hyperthyroidism... Overall, this view lacks sufficient factual basis The text that Mr. Xiao Ping marked for this mask image is "Bronze Beast Mask Unearthed from Sanxingdui".
In 2021, after the excavation of six newly discovered burial pits in Sanxingdui, many scholars still refer to the above-mentioned masks as "longitudinal masks", which requires careful interpretation.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas • Northern Classic of Hainei has the following words: "Socks are the black heads of people who stare at them", the "Songs of Chu • Great Movements" has the "Boardless heads who stare at them", and the "Chapters of Songs of Chu" written by Wang Yi of the Han Dynasty has the following words: "Zong, one act follows." Five officials have the following words: "Follow, erect." The Classic of Mountains and Seas • Northern Classic of Overseas has the following words: "Candle dragon is red when its face is red and its body is red when its head is straight." Guo Pu has the following words: "Straight eyes, straight eyes follow."
The interpretation of "vertical" in "Ci Hai" is: "It also means from, straight, from top to bottom or from bottom to top; between north and south." The horizontal axis of the human eye basically coincides with the horizontal line, and such ordinary eyes can be called flat eyes. The head portrait unearthed from Sanxingdui has such a flat head. Zongmu, in terms of word meaning, should be a type of straight or vertical eye that is different from a flat eye, with the line connecting the corners of the two eyes standing vertically from top to bottom. Most of the head portraits unearthed from Sanxingdui have the horizontal axis of their eyes rising at about 30-45 degrees. Although these eyes are not vertical at 90 degrees, they can also be called vertical eyes.
Especially the bronze standing portrait with a height of 260.8 centimeters and a height of 180 centimeters, most scholars believe it is the statue of the Shu ancestor Silkworm Cong, or the deity statue that combines the most noble heavenly god with the Shu ancestor. The horizontal axis of its eyes is inverted and raised in eight characters, also known as the vertical eye. This is consistent with the record of "Silkworm from the Marquis of Shu, self guided" in Chronicles of Huayang. Some vertical head portraits similar to bronze standing figures were also unearthed in Sanxingdui (see Figure 2).
Qu Yuan's "Soul Summoning" says: "You are superior to the heavens. The nine levels of tigers and leopards... the jackals are from the eyes... to be more afraid of danger!" "You are inferior to this secluded city. The nine agreements of the Tubo tribe... the head of the Shenmu tiger... to be more afraid of self harm!" It means that there are jackals from the eyes (i.e. vertical eyes) in the sky, and the Tubo tribe with the head of the Shenmu tiger underground. 'Zongmu' and 'Shenmu' coexist, 'Zongmu' refers to Zongmu, and 'Shenmu' refers to Shenmu. The two must not be confused or replaced by each other.
The book "Summoning Souls" also says, "Soul returns, you have no choice but to descend to this secluded city! The Nine Treatises of the Tu Bo, with its horns slightly wider. Blow out your blood thumb, and chase each person slightly. Refer to the head of a tiger, its body is like a cow." It can be translated as: Soul returns, you do not descend to the underground of this secluded city. The Tubo controls the nine gates, with long and sharp horns and thick and bloody claws on his back, chasing the beasts like a shuttle. The tiger has a bulging head and protruding eyes, and its body is as sturdy as a cow. According to the book "Summoning Souls", the wolves and tigers and leopards who guard the gates in the sky, while the Tubo dominates the underground secluded mansion. This type of chieftain is depicted as a four legged monster resembling a cow's body, a tiger's head, and a ginseng order (columnar protuberance order), with sharp horns and bloody claws.
Regarding the three columnar protruding head statues with eyes in Sanxingdui, according to Mr. Chen De'an, "the mouth is wide and deep," "the tongue in the mouth is slightly outward," "the animal ears" "are slightly rectangular, and the ear tips are peach shaped... short nose bridges, nose wings curled upward and inward in the shape of a cow nose, tiger head, rag head, or other animal heads in the columnar protruding order. Strictly speaking, these three pieces are only "masks", not complete Tubo like objects. They should have a body, limbs, and head, but unfortunately, none of them have been discovered. If these three "masks" were the heads of the Tu Bo in "Soul Call", they would have tiger like mouths and ears, as well as sharp horns, bloody claws, and a body like a cow.
The "Nine Treaties of Tubo" in "Evocation", translated by Guo Moruo in "Modern Translation of Qu Yuan Fu" as "Nine Earth Gods, with rope in hand, head like a tiger and body like a cow", does not say that Tubo's body is nine curves. The "Soul Call" says that there are nine levels in the sky, guarded by tigers, leopards, and wolves; There are nine gates in the underworld, guarded by local officials. If one door has one chieftain, nine doors should have nine chieftain. There are only three ginseng head portraits unearthed from Sanxingdui, which should not be all.
The Tubo of the "Shenmu Tiger Head" is in the underground secluded mansion. Ginseng can be used as a high and long solution. The book "Zhuangzi Grand Master" has the "Xuanming Shen Liao", while Du Fu's "Gu Bai Xing" has the "Daise towering two thousand feet in the sky", and the "Shen" in it means to be higher; Zhang Heng's "Si Xuan Fu" has the phrase "Chang Yu Pei Zhi Shen Shen", which means "Chang". Reference eye should be a special form of eye that protrudes or grows out of the eye socket. Tu Bo lives in an underground secluded capital, which should be a cold and dark place. Perhaps ancient people believed that it was necessary to grow a ginseng eye (with a protruding eyeball like handle) to see things clearly, which may have biological basis.
Both crabs and shrimps are Arthropod, with a pair of cylindrical protruding eyes, probably related to the low visibility in the water and the intensity of light. According to Li Linsi, river crabs have a pair of compound eyes, consisting of hundreds or even thousands of hexagonal monocular insets. The center of the compound eye is the deeply pigmented part of the retina. The compound eye has an eye stalk, which is divided into two sections and connected by joints, allowing it to stand upright or lie horizontally, and move freely
It is very interesting that the 16 centimeter long columnar protuberance has a 2.8 centimeter wide circular node called a "hoop" in the middle, which divides the protuberance into upper and lower parts, very similar to the protuberance of river crabs. The convex eyes of river crabs are also divided into two sections, with a joint connected in the middle that can freely rotate, straighten, and bend. The role of the "link" (hoop) in the middle of the bronze head statue is also to connect the upper and lower parts, and can also freely rotate, straighten or bend to expand the field of view and protect the eyeball. Otherwise, straight edges and immovable convex eyes not only limit the field of vision, but are also vulnerable to injury. This is probably the secret of the "hoop" in the protruding eyes. It should be the reference head designed and made by the ancient Shu people using Bionics principles.
In the Chu tombs of nobles above the rank of literati, there is often a "tomb stabilizing beast" with protruding eyes and a long tongue, which is similar to the Tubo and Sanxingdui columnar handle shaped protruding head statues in "Summoning Souls". This may not be accidental. According to the "Chu Cultural Relics Atlas" edited by Gao Zhixi, the "Wooden Carved Eyed Tomb Beast" unearthed from the No.1 Chu Tomb in Baoshan, Jingmen, Hubei in 1986 during the mid Warring States period was composed of three parts: the seat, body, and antlers, with two protruding round eyes carved on the animal's surface, teeth showing, a triangular long tongue protruding from the mouth, and a curved neck; The "Four Deer Horn Tomb Beast in the Mid Warring States Period... Unearthed from the No.1 Chu Tomb in Wangshan, Jiangling, Hubei in 1965... The head and face of the beast are carved in the shape of a tiger, stunned, with a large tongue hanging out and a ferocious face, with four large and complete straight antlers inserted on both heads Painted Da Zhen Tomb Beast... Unearthed from Tomb 1, Jiuli, Linli, Hunan in 1980... The animal has a square body, a tiger head shape, vertical ears, a curved neck, a long tongue at the mouth, connected to the chest, a ferocious face, and a tiger shaped body... This is a typical tomb beast in the mid Warring States period of the Southern Chu region. Compared with early tomb beasts in the Warring States period, the animal head has changed to a tiger shape, and the tongue on the tiger ear is longer. The above tomb beasts are similar to the "Shen Mu Hu Tou" in "Soul Call" and the Sanxingdui Shen Mu Tou portrait. They may all be Tu Bo or divine beasts like Tu Bo. The term 'Tomb Beast' seems to have some commercial value, as it should be the plastic edge of a Tubo.
In summary, we believe that the eyes of the bronze statues or masks unearthed from Sanxingdui are tilted outwards at 30-45 degrees from the horizontal axis or horizontal line, and should be referred to as longitudinal portraits or masks. The eyeball of a bronze mask protrudes beyond the eye socket in a cylindrical handle shape, and should be referred to as a reference mask or a convex eye mask. If it is called a longitudinal mask, it should be considered inappropriate; If further discussed in conjunction with Silkworm Cong Zongmu, it would be even more inappropriate.
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