The Shang Dynasty bronze artifacts unearthed in Chenggu, Chengdu, shine brightly
This group of precious bronze artifacts from the Shang Dynasty, invited to participate in the "Qin Shu Road - Bronze Civilization Special Exhibition", have won high recognition and praise from Chengdu citizens and cultural relics workers in Sichuan Province for their unique shape, exquisite patterns, rich historical information, and research value.
The 4-month "Qin Shu Road - Bronze Civilization Special Exhibition" has received widespread attention and favor from all sectors of society since its exhibition at the Chengdu Museum on July 27th. The daily flow of visitors to the exhibition is endless, and the praise is overwhelming.
It is reported that this exhibition has gathered more than 250 bronze heavy objects from Chengdu Plain, Guanzhong Plain and Hanzhong Basin, including 55 first-class cultural relics. Among them, Yavarfang Lei was discovered by a farmer in Xiaozuka, Su Village, Chenggu County in October 1976 when clearing the ginger cellar.
The Lei has a total height of 51 centimeters, a longitudinal mouth of 12.9 centimeters, a transverse mouth of 15 centimeters, a deep abdomen of 39 centimeters, and a weight of 15.9 kilograms. The shape of the vessel is square, with a flat bottom and a mother and son cover. The roof has a building shaped handle, decorated with fine cloud patterns to create a gluttonous pattern on the ground; The fine cloud pattern on the shoulder is a Kui pattern on the ground; The heads of the beasts on both sides are ears, and there are small Kui patterns on the abdomen with fine lines as the ground; There is a beast's head on one side of the abdomen. Two pieces of Fang Lei with the same shape have been found, one is the existing Yangxian Museum, and the other is the existing Chenggu County Museum. According to historical records, Lei was a large wine container and ritual vessel in ancient China, popular from the late Shang Dynasty to the mid Spring and Autumn period.
Lei has two types of shapes: square and circular, with a common feature of a closed mouth, straight or slightly inclined neck, folded or rounded shoulder. The maximum diameter (or widest point) of the body is at the intersection of the shoulders and abdomen, and the abdominal wall is tilted downwards from here to form a bottom. The cover of the Fangti Lei vessel is in the four Ah style of the hall, decorated with an inverted curled horned beast face pattern with a thunder pattern as the base.
In October 1976, 23 bronze masks were also found in the small tomb in Su Village, Chenggu County.
This group of bronze masks has two types of facial shapes: elliptical and circular, with a deeply concave eye frame, protruding eyeballs, and a rounded center. The face of the mask is convex on the outside and concave on the inside, with its facial features positioned close to the human face. The shape of the vessel is two upright ears, with a protruding nose and carved fangs.
Why are there many bronze masks in the cultural relics of the Shang Dynasty? Huang Shangming, associate professor of the Chu Studies Institute of Central China Normal University, and Da Haobo, a researcher of the Archaeological Research Institute of Hubei Province, believed that these bronze masks were related to the prevailing vogue of witchcraft in the Shang Dynasty.
It is understood that since the founding of the People's Republic of China, more than 700 pieces of various bronze relics have been unearthed in Chenggu County, which is one of the counties with more bronzes unearthed in China. The discovery of a large number of bronzes confirmed that the fertile land of Chenggu in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties was fully integrated with Bashu and Zhongyuan culture, and reflected the developed cultural, economic and technological level at that time.
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