The Return to China of the Heavy Bronze "Zilong Ding" of the Shang Dynasty
At 20:40 on April 28, 2006, "Zilongding" took the flight of Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Airways and landed smoothly at the Capital Airport. Its successful return is a major event in the history of the return of overseas Chinese cultural relics.
It is said that the Zilong Ding, which has been floating overseas for nearly a hundred years, was unearthed in Hui County, Henan Province in the 1920s. After it was unearthed, the tripod was shipped to Japan by the Yamanaka Chamber of Commerce, which specializes in the international sale of Chinese cultural relics. It was then secretly transferred among Japanese private collectors, but it never appeared in public and disappeared for nearly a hundred years.
In 2004, during a visit to Japan by two domestic bronze ware experts, they saw Zilong Ding for the first time in a Japanese private collector. However, given the circumstances at the time, it was quite difficult to make this happen. Not long after, Zilongding made its first public appearance. Zilong Ding collectors held a private collection exhibition of bronze mirrors and other bronzes in their collection in Osaka, Japan, and Zilong Ding was listed first among them. In the published exhibition catalogue, the Zilong Ding is the first one.
This news vaguely spread to the domestic cultural relics collection circle. Later, although many experts learned about the existence of Zilong Ding through various channels, they were unable to see the fragrance.
In September 2005, relevant domestic cultural relic experts went to Japan to carry out work. In the meantime, I communicated with senior figures in the Japanese antiques industry and asked about the whereabouts of Zilongding. The Japanese provided detailed information and photos of Zilong Ding the next day, and informed domestic private buyers that they had negotiated with the collectors at a record price and had reached a preliminary intention. The Japanese say they can end talks with private buyers if Chinese government authorities can step in at a slightly higher price. However, at that time, the experts were unable to see the real Zilong Ding, let alone carry out the relevant appraisal procedures. At the same time, because the asking price was too high, in order to avoid bidding, they took a downplayed approach and did not immediately express their position, and the matter was shelved for a time.
After returning to China, the expert immediately reported the situation of the Zilong Ding to the relevant state departments, but soon learned that the Zilong Ding had been shipped out of Japan, and its whereabouts were unknown.
However, a few months later, important clues were obtained in China: Zilongding appeared in Hong Kong, and there were already domestic and foreign collectors and speculators negotiating to buy, and there were signs of speculation and profit. At the same time, relevant domestic parties also learned that the holders of Zilongding know that according to the United Nations Convention on Art Trade, the Chinese government requires the United States to stop importing works of art with a history of more than 95 years. Artwork shall be shipped into the United States prior to the entry into force of the relevant agreement.
Relevant domestic departments realized that if our response was slow, it would be extremely difficult to recover Zilongding after it entered the US border. The experts quickly communicated directly with the cultural relic holders in Hong Kong through relevant channels. After vigorous persuasion, the cultural relic holder finally agreed to give priority to the transfer of Zilong Ding to China, and promised not to contact other buyers within a certain period of time. touch.
After the most authoritative experts in China went to Hong Kong for many times to carry out physical identification, the experts unanimously determined that the Zilong Ding was "a rare treasure of Shang Dynasty bronzes and should be listed in the list of national key precious cultural relics", and called on the country to rescue it and return it to China as soon as possible.
Since the news of Zilongding's appearance and its intention to sell it has attracted great attention from the collection circles at home and abroad, some institutions want to take the opportunity to hype for profit. It is understood that Zilongding's selling price is a "high price". However, after arduous negotiations between relevant domestic experts and the holders of cultural relics in Hong Kong, they took advantage of the situation and repeatedly explained the importance of the return of cultural relics to the motherland and stimulated their patriotic enthusiasm. The holders of cultural relics finally agreed to send Zilong Ding at a much lower price than the quotation. transfer to the motherland.
In April 2006, the collection of national key precious cultural relics carried out by the relevant departments of the state achieved significant results: the bronze treasure lost overseas for nearly a hundred years, and the Shang Dynasty bronze heavy vessel Zilongding was finally successfully rescued and returned to China.
The existence of Zilongding is very exciting to experts. After rigorous identification and research, experts unanimously believe that Zilongding is a national treasure-level bronze weapon comparable to "Simuwu Dafangding".
The Zilong Ding is the largest bronze round tripod in the Shang Dynasty that has been found. It is 103 cm high, 37 cm wide, 43 cm deep, and 36.5 cm high. Yu Ding (101.9 cm). In the late Shang and early Zhou wares, the Zilong Ding is the largest known inscribed round tripod, which can be called a treasure among the Shang and Zhou bronze wares and the most important weapon of the country.
"Dragon" is the symbol of the Chinese nation. The inscription "Zilong" on the Zilong Ding is the earliest known bronze vessel with the inscription "Dragon".
In the inscriptions of Shang and Zhou, the author "Zi Mou" may be a private name, but it may also be a family name. The name of "Zi Mou" is a customary way of appellation for merchants and nobles in the inscriptions on oracle bones of Yin Ruins and the inscriptions of Shang and early Zhou Dynasty. In the Shang royal family, the person who called "Zi Mou" should be a prince, and in the non-king nobility, "Zi Mou" was the son of the patriarch, so Zilong should belong to a merchant.
Zilong Ding has excellent casting technology, perfect preservation and gorgeous rust color. It is the best of Chinese bronzes. This tripod is not only huge in size, majestic in shape, and exquisite in decoration, it is a classic work of ancient Chinese bronze casting technology.
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