The sacrificial area of Sanxingdui successfully matched two large bronzes across the pit again
June 10 is the China's Cultural Heritage Day. This year's theme is "Cultural Relics Protection and Utilization and Cultural Confidence and Self reliance". In the morning of this (10th) day, the opening ceremony of the 2023 China's Cultural Heritage Day host city event hosted by the National Cutural Heritage Administration and the People's Government of Sichuan Province was held in Chengdu, Sichuan. At the opening ceremony, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology announced that the sacrificial area of Sanxingdui reproduces two large bronzes that were successfully matched across pits.
With the full completion of the field work in the sacrificial area of Sanxingdui, the indoor sorting, protection and restoration of the cultural relics unearthed in the new sacrificial pit has become one of the most important tasks in the current study of Sanxingdui. Recently, using technological means such as 3D scanning and 3D modeling, excavation and cultural heritage personnel have successfully crossed pits and assembled two large bronze artifacts.
The bronze beast kneels and sits on top of a statue, with a height of 1.589 meters. It consists of three parts: upper, middle, and lower. The bronze statue is composed of a kneeling figure with a bronze top statue unearthed from Pit 3 in 2021, a bronze statue with a mouth edge unearthed from Pit 2 in 1986, and a bronze god beast unearthed from Pit 8 in 2022.
The first layer is a monster of considerable size, standing with its head raised and chest up, its head large and flat, with long ears, and the words "minister" hooked at the corners of its eyes. It is also adorned with a lion like mane at the back of its head; Strong limbs, standing upright, with a rhinoceros like fold on the elbow, and four petal shaped toes on each foot. The tail is fluffy. There is a small bronze figure standing in the center of the head of the divine beast, dressed in magnificent attire. The figure is slender, prominent, upright, with hands in a holding posture. It is dressed in a slanted robe, cloud shoes on its feet, and a pair of pointed hats on its head. The second layer is decorated with a figure of a monster kneeling on its back, with a bronze figure with thick eyebrows and large eyes. Wearing a twisted cloud and thunder patterned long sleeved shirt with a front and back, and a short skirt adorned with eye patterns, with arms raised in front of the chest and tied around the waist, tie a knot in front of the body. Both hands seem to hold an object, with a small crown on top and a large crown on top, forming a square platform to support the copper statue above. The third layer is a three segment folding shoulder statue, which is tall and thin, with six alternating dragon and beast shaped three-dimensional accessories from the shoulder to the neck.
This set of bronze vessels represents an altar and shapes a sacrificial scene. Kneeling on the back of the divine beast should have the identity of a wizard, and kneeling is the most devout posture of the ancient Shu ritual god. The bronze man standing on top of the divine beast may be a symbol of the ancient Shu king. The bronze statue on the head of the sorcerer has the style of Zhongyuan culture, and contains seashells, jade or wine.
The bronze Lei statue stands upside down with a bird foot top statue, measuring 2.53 meters in height and consisting of four parts. It is composed of a combination of copper bird foot portraits unearthed from Pit 2 in 1986, a climbing dragon bronze cover unearthed from Pit 3 in 2021, a copper topped statue with a curved body supporting a Lei, a copper holding dragon standing figure, and a copper rod shaped implement unearthed from Pit 8 in 2022.
This is a complex combination of copper vessels with unique shapes, mainly composed of copper containers, deities, and human figures. The main body of the bronze ware is an inverted deity, protruding vertically, with obvious fangs, and hair strands visible in front of the forehead and behind the head. The hands of the statue press on the cover of the square bronze Lei, raising its head and bending its body, with its feet facing upwards. The soles of the bird's claw shaped feet have bird shaped clouds. On the head of the statue is a bronze statue, and on the umbrella shaped button cap is a dragon crouching. At the back of the dragon stands a braided-haired person wearing a high crown, with deer teeth in his ears, a formal dress, and drooping boots on his feet. He holds a thick dragon head staff with a bent downward head in both hands.
The bird foot deity with a combination of bronze artifacts has protruding eyes, protruding vertical eyes, exposed fangs, and a grin. Ears are unique, with hair strands visible in front of the forehead and behind the head. The deity wears a double breasted garment on its upper body and a short skirt with a waistband on its lower body. The bird like feet are particularly eye-catching, clearly being gods rather than humans. The posture of the statue is extremely special, standing upside down on a bronze Lei with both hands as support, with a Gu shaped statue on top of the head, and the limbs below the waist curling upwards in reverse. The legs have strong and muscular muscles, while the feet transform into bird claws and tightly grasp an inverted eagle's head. Above the eagle head is the Abstraction eagle body.
This is a tall bronze altar statue. The curved figure assumes a bird shaped fanged divine face posture. The main structure of the altar is a Lei shaped base and a main Gu shaped statue. The body of the statue is decorated with animal face patterns and banana leaf patterns, and the shape and decoration of the objects have the style of Zhongyuan culture. The statue also shows the essence of ancient Shu culture, and is a masterpiece of art under the light of Zhongyuan culture.
The two bronze statues are cast from several relatively independent parts for the second time. They are huge in size, complex in shape and unique. They should be the artistic images of sacrificial statues in the ancient Shu era. They not only have the unique and creative Shu culture, but also reflect the strong influence of the Zhongyuan culture culture. They once again demonstrate the splendid ancient Shu civilization and the diversified Chinese civilization, and reflect the superb bronze design and casting skills of the Sanxingdui, Reflects the rich imagination and creativity of the ancient Shu era.
The successful assembly of cultural relics across the pits proves that the formation periods of several sacrificial pits in the sacrificial area are similar, which has significant academic significance for clarifying the archaeological age of each pit, the layout and nature of the sacrificial area, and the forms of ancient Shu people's worship.
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