Anyang, Henan Province is a treasure trove of geomantic omen. As early as the early 20th century, it was famous for its unearthed Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In the twenties and thirties of last century, the political situation was chaotic, and folk grave robbery prevailed. The villagers in Wuguan village will not just watch, but also start to steal ancient tombs at night in an organized way. /kloc-one night in 0/939, a big tripod was unearthed with the crunchy shovel of a villager.
This section introduces Simuwu Fang Ding, which is magnificent and breathtaking. The villagers were busy all night, but the tripod was too big and heavy to move. The private digger took a saw, sawed off an ear of the tripod, and then buried it again, and agreed that no one was allowed to say anything about it. Later, the Japanese invaders heard about it and wanted to buy it heavily.
After the victory of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Simu Wuding was unearthed again in June 1946. It was once a birthday present for Chiang Kai-shek. It was delivered to Nanjing by special car and kept by the preparatory office of the Central Museum. However, a tripod ear that was sawed off privately by villagers in those years disappeared in the turbulent years, leaving a permanent regret. Today I saw Simuwu Dafang Ding, and a ding ear was cast later.
1948 On May 29th, Simu Wuding was first exhibited in Nanjing. Chiang Kai-shek visited the scene and took photos in front of a tripod. Later, the Kuomintang government tried its best to transport the tripod to Taiwan Province Province, but it was too heavy to carry it. After the founding of New China, Simuwu Fang Ding entered the Chinese History Museum in 1959.
Simuwu Fang Ding is huge and beautifully shaped. The tripod is square, quadruped, with upright ears, rectangular abdomen and four empty columns; Height 133 cm, mouth length 1 10 cm, width 78 cm, wall thickness 6 cm and weight 875 kg. Except that the center of all sides of the tripod body is a rectangular plain surface without ornamentation, the rest are on the fine Yun Leiwen, and each part has main ornamentation and its own shape. The four sides of the tripod are mainly decorated with gluttony, and the dragon pattern is coiled. At the junction of the four sides, there is a door edge decorated with a cow's head above and gluttony below. There are two tigers on the outline of Dinger. The tiger's head bypassed Dinger's upper part and faced each other with his mouth open. There is a head in the middle of the tiger, which seems to have been swallowed by the tiger. The ears are decorated with fish lines. The decorative patterns of the four tripod feet are also unique, with an animal face on each of the three strings. There are cicada patterns on the feet. Against these patterns, the whole tripod is more powerful.
The legend of gluttony is an insatiable beast with horns, claws and tails and a disgusting face. This kind of animal probably doesn't exist in nature, but is conjured up by people according to the imagination of cows, tigers, sheep and bears, and is endowed with mysterious horror. Gluttony pattern is a kind of animal face decoration based on imaginary animal gluttony, and it is also formed through high artistic exaggeration. This pattern sets off a ferocious, mysterious and dignified atmosphere.
Simu Wuding is the largest and heaviest bronze unearthed at present, and it is also a rare fine product in the world, which undoubtedly represents the highest level of bronze casting technology in Shang Dynasty. Under the technical conditions in the late Shang Dynasty, casting a large bronze ritual vessel like Simu Wuding should be a major project at that time, which required not only a large number of skilled and experienced craftsmen, but also strict organization. When the world stood in front of this exquisite and huge national treasure, it could not help but marvel at the superb bronze technology at that time, and was also impressed by the intelligence and superb skills of the ancient working people.
According to archaeological discoveries and the research of relevant experts, a kind of pottery called Ba Guo was used to smelt bronze at that time, which was similar in shape to the helmet that was later inverted. Archaeologists call it "the general's helmet". According to calculation, an ordinary "general helmet" can melt more than ten kilograms of copper. Crucibles are enough to cast ordinary objects. Obviously, it is impossible to cast such a huge thing as Simu Wuding with ordinary helmets. Archaeologists found a large crucible with a diameter of 83 cm and a wall thickness of 45 cm in the ruins of Yinxu in Anyang. According to estimates, the foundry company Simuwu Fang Ding can meet the needs of copper melting as long as it has six such big orange crucibles.
According to the analysis of relevant experts, the five Musi Ding is an alloy, and its alloy composition is: tin 1 1.4%, copper 84.77% and lead 2.79%, which is close to the alloy composition ratio of the "Six Qi" casting Ding mentioned in the inspection records. This also fully shows that as early as the Shang Dynasty, China was already a highly developed bronze age.
In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, there was a saying that "rites are hidden in utensils". Bronze ware not only represented the most advanced productive forces and the most advanced scientific and technological level at that time, but also embodied the etiquette and politics at that time. "The great event of the country lies in the worship of peace and glory." For the rulers at that time, the biggest thing was sacrifice and foreign war. At that time, the most advanced bronze smelting and casting technology was also mainly used for sacrifice and war. China is different from other bronzes in the world. The Si Muwu Ding is a bronze ritual vessel.
There are three inscriptions on the tripod, "Musrong". Division can be interpreted as a shrine, which means offering sacrifices; Mother is the title of Shang king to mother; Wuying is the temple name of Wang Shang's mother. From these inscriptions, we can infer that this generous tripod is a special tripod cast by the king for "E" his mother, so it is not surprising that it is so huge.
Before the excavation of Simu Wuding, that is, at the end of the 20th century in19th century, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, a Yin Ruin, was discovered in Anyang, Henan Province, thus confirming the record of Wang clan in Shang Dynasty in Historical Records of Yin Benji and "from Pan Geng to Zhou Dynasty, not to mention moving the capital after 273 years", and the history of Shang Dynasty has become a history of trust.
Yin Ruins is known as the holy land of modern archaeology in China. In recent decades, archaeologists have done a lot of archaeological excavations and research here and achieved gratifying results. In particular, the excavation of Fu Hao's tomb is not only of great significance in the archaeological history of Yin Ruins, but also provides clues for the study of the age of Simu Wuding and the tomb buried with him.
Let's compare the Si Muwu Ding and Si Muwu Ding Xin unearthed in Nuwa and the Tomb of a Good Woman: they are similar in shape, size and pattern. Inscriptions are all a few words, written in the same form. The fonts are all wavy, with a fat tip in the middle and words like one hand.
Ding Xin, the official of Si Mu, lived in the second stage of Yin Ruins Culture, while Wu Ding, the official of Si Mu, lived in the same period, and the absolute era was in the late stage of Wu Ding.
According to Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the lawful spouses of the king are Dading, Wuding, Zujia and Wuyi. Dading was the first king before Pan Geng moved to Yin, which can't be counted.
From this point of view, the mother is only the spouse of Wu Ding, the king of Yin, and the Ding is offered as a sacrifice to her mother with Zujia, so the "Mother Wu" in Simu Wuding is the mother who offered sacrifices to Pi Wu and Zujia in Oracle Bone Inscriptions.
China is famous for its unique bronze civilization, especially in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Ding is an outstanding representative of bronze civilization in China. As a heavy weapon of Shang royal family, Si Muwu Ding is known as the "crown of bronze" and "national treasure". Its modeling, decoration and technology have reached a high level. It is a masterpiece of bronze culture in the heyday of Shang Dynasty, a great miracle in the history of bronze casting in China and a witness of bronze civilization in China.