My system is not decent

Looking at the photo in front of him, Chen Wenzhe was sure that it should be Jiuding Bagui.

How many times have you seen the real Jiuding Bagui, not to mention him, even a few large archaeological teams in China?

Chen Wenzhe was able to confirm that these were all bronze wares from the Western Zhou Dynasty, because he saw the process of taking pictures of this batch of bronze wares through backtracking.

Just through this photo in his hand, he can see too many things.

For example, the nine bronze tripods have the same decoration, but the sizes are in descending order.

The largest one is 54.5 centimeters high, and the smallest one is 47.5 centimeters.

The eight bronze gui have the same shape and similar decoration.

From the shape of Jiuding and Bagui, it can be seen that it has changed the previous majestic and dignified artistic style, and tends to be beautiful and light.

The decoration has also changed from the bold and unrestrained coarse lines to the neat and fine lines.

Like the hui pattern on these bronze tripods, two or more hui dragons are intertwined with each other, penetrating and circling repeatedly, vividly and slenderly attached to the surface of the utensils, with a very gorgeous and complicated artistic effect. It represents the new trend of this era.

This set of Jiuding and Bagui not only inherits the technique of Yin Shang bronzes, but also has the unique technique of engraving with slope thick lines or thin Yin lines.

This shines brilliantly on bird-shaped bronzes and animal-face decorations.

Such bronzes are still different from the bronzes of the following eras.

For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, princes contended for hegemony in politics, a hundred schools of thought contended in academics, and a hundred flowers bloomed in culture and art.

The bronze art at this time was brilliant, comparable to the Greek and Roman stone carving art in the Mediterranean basin at that time.

Although there were terracotta warriors and horses known as the eighth wonder of the world in the Qin Dynasty, the artistic features of the unearthed bronzes still depend on the new discoveries of underground archaeology.

The bronze wares of the Han Dynasty inherited the essence of the bronze wares of the Warring States Period, continued to develop, and established the basic pattern of Chinese bronze culture.

In the history of my country's bronze culture, as long as three and a half centuries, the period of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Three Kingdoms was a low tide among the highly developed Han and Tang bronzes.

There are very few bronze wares unearthed, and all of them have the charm of the Han Dynasty. There are not many innovators in the bronze wares culture.

The problem is that the traditional bronze culture of the Chinese nation, including the symmetrical setting of the "Nine Tripods and Eight Guis", is constantly evolving and constantly integrating and innovating.

The connotative culture of the symmetrical setting of "Nine Dings and Eight Guis" in our country is not static, nor does it have a fixed and rigid model.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, funerals from nobles to civilians have generally exceeded the etiquette, which has double meanings.

One is that after the royal family moved to the east, the feudal patriarchal order was in chaos, and the ritual and music system that symbolized the feudal order also experienced the phenomenon of "ritual decay and music collapse";

One is that due to the improvement of the status of common people economically and politically, "ritual" is no longer the monopoly of nobles.

Due to the several major social turbulences in ancient my country, in addition to the collapse of the value system and moral system, there was also a "destruction of rituals and collapse of music".

Therefore, the lack of a long-lasting and deeply rooted sense of awe is related to values.

But living in modern times, we must understand the principles of the rise and fall of chaos since ancient times.

Therefore, there are certain rules for the shape, quantity, size, and even decoration of the nine tripods and eight gui.

For example, why did the "Nine Tripods and Eight Guis" have a square body with a round top and a bottom, and evolved into the shape of "holding the circle and keeping the square"?

The ancients of Chinese civilization said: There is a principle between heaven and earth, and there is wisdom in the world.

The core values ​​of the 5000-year Chinese civilization are, first of all, the "view of heaven and earth", and the simple and innovative Chinese humanistic spirit from "holding the sky and guarding the earth" to "holding the circle and guarding the square", etc.

In-depth study of the connotative culture of the symmetrical arrangement of the "Nine Tripods and Eight Guis" in China must examine and dig out the thick and heavy shape of the "Nine Tripods and Eight Guis" from the historical background of the symmetrical arrangement of the "Nine Tripods and Eight Guis".

Therefore, most of the nine tripods have a three-legged external shape;

A detailed analysis of the body of the eight gui vessels reveals that most of them are decorated with animal-mask patterns on the upper and lower sides.

Nine tripods and eight gui, the symbol of the ancient central government.

Jiuding represents the ancient Kyushu in my country. Ding is the main utensil in ancient ritual vessels; it is a special product for nobles at all levels; it is a symbol of unifying the world and establishing the Xia Dynasty.

Gui, an ancient utensil for holding food, has a round mouth and two ears.

鼎通高47-53.5厘米，口径45.7-53.3厘米，簋通高21.1-22.8厘米，口径19.5厘米左右。

With such a shape, the shape of the vessel seems to be a bit small, but there are not no princes who lack status in history, but they are also buried with nine tripods and eight cups.

In any case, the appearance of such a batch of bronze wares at the same time is still very shocking.

For example, every visitor who enters the Zenghouyi Exhibition Hall of the Beihu Museum will be shocked by the momentum of the "Nine Dings and Eight Guis" there.

At the same time, they will also have a confusion.

In history, the nine tripods and eight gui are the symbols of the central government, that is, only the emperor can have them.

The power of the princes is seven tripods and six cups, and the power of a doctor is five tripods and four cups.

But Marquis Yi of Zeng was the monarch of the southern Ji surnamed Zeng Guo (that is, Ji surnamed Suiguo) during the Warring States period of our country. Although he was a monarch, he was not the son of heaven at that time.

Then Zeng Houyi's nine tripods and eight gui, is it a usurpation?

The text on the wall of the museum explains that it is a plus, and it is in line with the system of princes.

However, beginning in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty declined, and princes from all over the country rose up. The ritual and music system that symbolized the feudal order appeared the phenomenon of "the collapse of rituals and the destruction of music".

At this time, the bronze ritual vessels also changed accordingly, and the behavior of "overreaching" by the princes became more and more common.

It is not uncommon for doctors to use the system of princes more and more, and some princes even use more luxurious ritual vessels than the emperor.

Against this background, it is not surprising that the Jiuding and Bagui were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

But how did the "Nine Dings and Eight Guis" form in history, and who led them?

Chen Wenzhe looked at a photo, and it seemed that where the Jiuding and Bagui appeared, there would be other bronzes that we are particularly familiar with, such as spoons.

The spoon in the photo in Chen Wenzhe's hand must have been unearthed together with Jiuding Bagui.

The top of the tripod has an open mouth, a folded edge, standing ears and a round bottom.

The abdomen is decorated with panchi patterns and silk cord patterns, the shape and pattern are the same, and the sizes are descending in order;

The gui cover has a round handle, the body has a mouth, a bulging belly, and a round bottom.

It is decorated with curved patterns, tile patterns, and vertical scale patterns, and the handles on both sides are decorated with scroll patterns and panchi patterns. The shapes, patterns, and sizes are all the same.

The spoon is also not ordinary, it is also a bronze vessel, and it is huge in size, with patterns carved on it.

"Ding" is used to hold meat products, "gui" is used to hold grain products such as millet and millet, and spoons are obviously used to hold food.

The tripod system refers to the combination of tripods with the same shape, ornamentation, and inscriptions, but decreasing in size, and guis with basically the same shape, ornamentation, and size.

The numbers of tripods and gui are odd and even numbers respectively, they are arranged regularly and served with different kinds of food.

The same kind of Jiuding series ritual vessels were once unearthed in the ancient city of Zheng Han, as many as five sets.

The unearthed nine tripods and eight gui in the vassal states are evidence of the gradual decline of the Zhou royal family.