Chinese National Treasures

Houmuwu Square Cauldron

       Originally used in ancient China to cook and store food, the cauldron became an important sacrificial vessel prevailing during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. As the representative of the bronze quadripod. Houmuwu Square Cauldron has long enjoyed a good repulation for its complex structure and exquisite craftsmanship. Houmuwu Square Cauldron, also known as Simuwu cauldron, is the largest and heaviest of all the bronze wares unearthed so far, and it is named after the three Chinese characters "后母戊" embossed in its interior. With a cuboid main body, four legs and two ears, it has a total weight of 832.84 kilograms, a length of 110 centimeters, a width of 79 centimeters, and a total height of 133 centimeters. The central parts of the four sides of the body are plain, white other places are all decorated with a shading cloud and thunder pattern. On its periphery of the central part, the delicate patterns of dragon and taotie (a mythical ferocious animal) dominate. The former is a symbola ancient kingship, and the use of the latter is the mainfestation of people's reverence toward gods at that time. On the outside of it was engraved a pattern of a tiger biting a man's head, and it gradually evolved into the pattern of two dragons playing with a pearl, which is widely used today, meaning good luck and happiness. Besides, there are fish-pattern decoration on the ear side, and  cicada on the legs. With its clear pattern decoration and powerful appearance, the quadripod gives a solemn and mysterious feeling. Cast of 20 pottery moulds, Houmuwu Square Cauldron requires more than 1,000 kilograms of raw metal materials and two to three hundred craftsmen to complete it jointly. This shows China has a high level of bronze manufacturing technique in the Shang Dynasty.

        As a class A heritage under national protection, Houmuwu Square Cauldron enjoys the reputation of "treasure of the country" with its high ornamental and research value.

The Square Zun with Four Goats

      Zun is the wine vessel in ancient China, prevalent in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. With the big opening and high ring foot, Zun has a bulging belly. Most Zuns are found, but the famous Square Zun with Four Goats is a square one.

      With a height of 58.3 centimeters and a weight of 34.5 kilogramm, the Square zun with Four Goats is the largest square Zun among bronze wares in the Shang Dynasty. It is shiny black and has a peculiar shape with an upper mouth flaring outwards like a trumpet, a tall neck, a bulging abdomen and square ring foot at the bottom. The  four curly-horned goats are the most ingenious styling: their heads and necks on the statue shoulders protrude; their bodies and the statue belly are perfectly blended;their legs are attached to the ring foot. Big as the opening is, the statue is stable and majestic in a harmonious whole with the four goats, especially the integration of the goat legs with the supporting base. With a thunder pattern as the shading, the statue is decorated with rich emblazonry all over. The goats' chests and necks are patterned with scaly design, the side phoenix, and the legs monster. On the statue neck, there are Japanese banana leaves, monster and beast patterns, widely used on the bronze wares in that period. On the shoulder between the goats lies the embossed dragon pattern, and four dragon heads stick out of the surface. With the diversity of line and circle engraving and embossment and the combination of plane and three-dimensional styling, the statue is the vivid manifestation of advanced engraving and moulding skills in ancient China. The reason for taking goats as the image is that it symbolizes auspiciousness and kindness in Chinese culture. Since goats are often used as traditional offerings, the Square Zun with Four Goats became a ritual vessel in later period to express reverence to gods.

      With its superb craftsmanship and rich cultural heritage, the Square Zun with Four Goats is an art treasure among China's bronze wares, and it is called "the model of the perfect bronze ware" by the historians.

The Marquis Yi Chime Bells

       Bianzhong or the chime bells are a set of large-scale percussion instrument in  ancient China, prevailing from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Han Dynasty. It is composed of bells of different sizes with diverse tones, and beautiful music can be played if beaten with a T-shaped mallet.

       Made of bronze, the Marquis Yi Chime Bells is comprised of 65 single bells with a length of 7.48 meters, a height of 2.73 meters and a weight of 4.42 tons. It is the largest and most integrated set of bells unearthed up till now, fully displaying the splendid music culture of ancient China. The chime is hung on a three-layered paulownia wood shelf of two parts, connected by painted wooden beams into a right-angle shape, and the ends of the beams are reinforced with copper sheathing. Six bearing-sword bronze warriors and eight round logs in the middle and lower layer serve as the base supporting the whole frame. On the bells are engraved more than 3,000 words of inscription, recording in detail the phonetic symbols and tonality in that period. These descriptions can be seen as the monograph of ancient Chinese music theory, and therefore become the important material for later generations to study the music then. The name of the chime is named by the inscription of "Marquis Yi of the State of Zeng" on the bells.

      The Marquis Yi Chime Bells have a wide range of diapason with beautiful tones and accurate tonality. Each bell can make two tones simultaneously depending on the location of the beat, having no interference with each other. The chime can be played from C2 tp D7 with 12 semitones, spanning five and a half octaves, only one less than modern piano and therefore heptachord music pieces can be flexibly performed on the chime.

     Characterized by its grandness and spectacular, the Marquis Yi Chime Bells show superb casting techniques and musical levels, and it is known as a miracle in the world music history.

Jade Clothes Sewn with Gold Threads

      Jade clothing, also known as "jade casker", is the burial costume of the royal family and the prominent aristocrats in the Han Dynasty. As its name suggests, jade clothing is made up of jade pieces tied together with threads of different texture based on the status of the deceased. From high to low ranks, there are gold, silver, copper and silk threads used in the jade clothing.

      Jade clothes sewn with gold threads are the emperors' shrouds when buried. With an appearance similar to that of a human body, it has five parts: the head, the top, the gloves, the pants and the shoes. The head is composed of a face cover and a hood, and the eyes, the nose and the mouth are engraved on the face cover. The top includes a front piece, a back piece and two sleeves, each of which is independent to the other. The stomach and the buttocks bulge to varying degrees according to the shape of the person. The gloves, pants and shoes are all in pairs, and the gloves have five fingers in a clenching-fist shape where a piece of jade is respectively placed; the shoes have the shape similar to our boots today. The jade pieces are different in size and shape, and most of them are rectangular and square, while triangular, trapezoidal and polygonal ones are in minority. With a huge demand for jade and gold, the jade clothes production is complicated and rigorous. It requires a high level of jade-cutting and gold wire threading skills to have a smooth surface and tight seams. Therefore, the making is of highly time-consuming and costly both in expense and manpower. Take Liu Sheng, the Zhongshan King of the Western Han Dynasty as an example. His jade clothing consumes 2,498 pieces of jade and 1,100 grams gold and hundreds of craftsmen worked on it for more than two years.

      As an unique art treasure in China, Jade Clothes Sewn with Gold Threads is not  only a cultural window for later generations to study the funeral custom of the Han Dynasty, but also the full reflection of the exquisite production and distinguished design of the ancient Chinese people.

Riverside Scene at the Qingming Festival

     Riverside Scene at the Qingming Festival is a famous long scroll of painting on ancient Chinese customs in the Northern Song Dynasty( 960AD-1127AD). Known as one of the "Top Ten Famous Chinese Paintings of Ancient China",it depicts the life and landscape of the capital city Dongjing(now Kaifeng) and the scenes along the banks of the Bianhe River.

      The painting, made of silk, is 24.8 centimeters wide and 528.7 centimeters long. On this long scroll with a width of less than one foot, it is said that there are 587 characters, more than 60 head of livestock, more than 20 wooden boats and more than 30 houses. The work,with reasonable arrangement,is exquisite in its composition. With the scroll unfolded, the first thing catching the eye is the early spring scenery in Dongjing outskirts: the trees burgeon, and the streams purl. In the veil of the mist, two people drive the donkeys forward along the village path. Among the villages and huts, some travellors hurry on their way on foot, some on horseback and some in sedan chairs. At the end of the quiet country road comes the middle part where an arch bridge stretches across the Bianhe River. Several ships are sailing on the river under the bridge with some in full cargo while others docked with goods being unloaded. The boatmen are busy in performing their duties. On the shore are many teahouses, restaurants and stalls selling different goods with throngs of people along the banks. The last part is the downtown street of Dongjing with a tall city tower as its center. The streets are in a crisscross pattern and buildings are in rows. There is all the business you expect to find such as restaurants, butcher shops, merceries, jewelry stores and drugstores. The traffic is endless, and screams of people are bustling in boisterous atmosphere.

    With its rich content, Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival vividly shows the    prosperity of business, handicrafts, architecture, transportation and folklore in the Northern Song Dynasty, thus providing valuable historical materials for future generations to understand and study the economic and social life in that period.

The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection

     The preface is an introduction before the main body of th work, often used to  clarify the reasons and process of the writing. The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection is a preface written by the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty(317AD-420AD) for the poem collection created by his friends. There are 28 lines and 324 Chinese characters in total, and it enjoys the reputation of  "the best running scrip in the world".

    With its unrestrained and elegant style, The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion    Collection is the masterpiece of Wang Xizhi, the "sage of calligraphy". The characters are of different sizes with proper spacing, and the light and thick ink is used alternately to form an integrated whole. The calligraphy technique is flexibly adopted, and thus the strokes are rich in variation with ingenious handling methods. Take the character "zhi" appearing 20 times as an example. Each character has their own way of writing with unique charm. Though eagerly imitated by the later generations, the work is still difficult to surpass. The language in the preface is concise and refreshing with the perfect matching of both the rhyme and meaning of sentences. The first paragraph, which centers on joy, depicts the beautiful scenery around the Orchid Pavilion and the gathering scene with his friends. The sight stirs up the author's feeling that the life is transient when he associates meeting with separation. Finally, with a deep reflection on the value and meaning of life, the sentiment of treasuring the real life is experssed. Characterized with its terse and forceful language, the article is rich in literary grace and produces many popular idioms such as "fine and clear sky""high mountains and lofty hills", greatly enriching the way to express thoughts.

     The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection not only enjoys lofty status in    calligraphy, but also has a significance in literature and philosophy. It is a model for the perfect unity of content and form.