The gold ou permanent cup, gold inlaid jewelry to pray for the peace of the country and the people.The bright window opens the pen, that is, every year on New Year's Day (the first day of the first lunar month) the emperor writes auspicious words in the imperial pen of the Yangxin Palace. This Qing court custom began with Emperor Kangxi and began to become customized during the Yongzheng period. During the opening ceremony, the emperor would personally light the imperial candlestick and pour Tusu wine into the golden cup. "Every year's New Year's Day is engraved, that is, bowing to the royal is the place, the case is set up with a golden ou, in the note Tu Su, a jade candle, the lead hand shines, first Yu Zhu Hao, and then dyes Han ink. The end of the pen is engraved with the words 'Wan Nian Qing', and the tube is called 'Wan Nian Branch'. The numbers of each book are used to pray for the ...... of the government and affairs of the year oldThis is recorded in detail in the Qing court books.
In order to enhance the solemnity and grandeur of the opening ceremony, after Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne, he renovated the Yangxin Palace: at the west end of the East Warm Pavilion and the place facing the window in the south, another hut was opened with a wooden mallet fan, and the "bright window" plaque of the imperial pen was hung indoors. In the fourth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1739), Emperor Qianlong ordered the office to build three major royal objects for the opening of the Ming Window: the golden Ou Yonggu cup, the jade candle long wax skewer, and the 10,000-year-old pole brush engraved with the word "evergreen" at the end of the tube. Among them, the cup of the Jinou Yonggu Cup should be engraved with the words "Jinou Yonggu", which means that the society is forever protected and the country is eternal.
According to the records of the Qing Dynasty's "Internal Affairs Office Activity File", from the design to the production process, each link of this cup was repeatedly submitted to the imperial review and modified until Emperor Qianlong was satisfied. In the sixty-second year of Qianlong (1797), that is, the second year after Qianlong retired from government and Jiaqing succeeded to the throne, the Jinou Yonggu Cup was damaged, and Qianlong ordered it to be rebuilt by the Creation Office. For this cup alone, I received **20 taels, 11 pearls, 9 rubies, and 12 sapphires from the warehouse. Among the 11 pearls, 2 large pearls are milky white and shiny in color, and the remaining 9 are also fine beads with a diameter of more than 5 mm. The gemstones are made of the finest Burmese reds and sapphires, including star rubies and star sapphires with magical starlight. Golden Ou permanent cup, high 125 cm, caliber 8 cm. The shape is tripod-shaped, round, and straight. The mouth is engraved along the back pattern for a week, one side of the middle chisel seal book "Jin Ou Yonggu", one side of the chisel "Qianlong year" four-character paragraph. The outer wall is full of chiseled treasure flowers, and the stamens are dominated by pearls, red and sapphires. There is a deformed dragon ear on each side, and there are beads on the dragon's head. The three legs are all elephant-headed style, the elephant ears are slightly smaller, the nose is long and the nose is curled, and the crown of the forehead and between the eyes are also inlaid with jewels. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Palace Office made all kinds of wine glasses, among which there are many dragon ear works, and there are many styles, but there are very few works with elephant trunks as feet.
It is worth mentioning that the dotted cui craft in the golden ou permanent cup is a traditional Chinese gold and silver jewelry making process, which has existed in the Han Dynasty. It is an auxiliary type of work in jewelry making, which plays the role of embellishing and beautifying gold and silver jewelry. The jewelry made by the dotted emerald process has a good luster and bright color, as long as you pay attention to protection during use, the luster and color can be preserved for a long time. The development of Diancui technology reached its peak in the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty.
In a Qing Dynasty painting "Emperor Qianlong's Joy in the Dynasty", the boy on the lower right side of the picture is holding a golden Ou Yonggu cup. The golden ou permanent cup was passed down from generation to generation by the emperors after the Qianlong Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, and the emperors of the Qing Dynasty regarded it as a precious ancestral artifact.
Ming Yongle blue and white seawater river cliff pattern three-legged furnace.The three-legged furnace of blue and white seawater river cliff pattern in the Ming Yongle collection in the Palace Museum was fired in the eighteenth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), and the vessel is 55 high5 cm, caliber 373 cm, foot distance 38 cm. The furnace has a wide mouth, a short neck, a bulging belly, a three-elephant leg-shaped foot under the bearing, and two ears are placed on the shoulders, and the shape imitates the bronze tripod style. The turbulent waves on the furnace wall are magnificent, and the blue and white with the halo effect are perfectly integrated with the classical shape of the imitation bronze tripod. The incense burner is covered with seawater river cliff pattern, this kind of ornament is also called Shoushan Fuhai pattern, the main body is decorated with mountain stones standing on top of the turbulent waves, which is generally understood as "blessing such as the East China Sea, Shoubi Nanshan" meaning. Because of the homonym of "tide" and the dynasty, the seawater river cliff pattern is also a special decoration of the official uniform of the Ming Dynasty, often used with the dragon pattern, animal pattern, eight treasures auspicious pattern, etc., and is decorated on the hem of the emperor's dragon robe, the complement of the ancient official uniform, the cuffs and other parts. However, it is used here as the pattern of the incense burner, and the deep meaning is to symbolize the unification of the country and the stability and eternity. At the same time, the ornamentation is matched with the tripod shape that symbolizes the world, which complements each other to show the meaning of looking forward to the stability of the country. The general tripod-type incense burner is a sacrificial offering vessel, but the blue and white seawater river cliff pattern incense burner is different, and it is speculated that it was used during the Yongle Emperor's imperial dynasty.
Shao Jingbang, a scholar of the Ming Zhengde Dynasty, recorded in the "Hongyi Lu": When the Yongle Emperor was in the Fengtianmen Imperial Dynasty, after sitting on the throne, he placed an incense burner carved in the shape of mountains and rivers in front of the couch and said: "Settled!" This ceremony is a sign that the Yongle Emperor's country has stabilized. Here we have to mention the porcelain industry of the Ming Dynasty, the porcelain kilns of the Ming Dynasty increased, the porcelain produced is of good quality, beautiful shape, among which the Yongle and Xuande dynasties (1403-1435) are the most prosperous, which can be said to be the first era of the development of Chinese blue and white porcelain. Because the two dynasties have a lot in common in the shape and decoration of blue and white porcelain, later generations often refer to "Yongxuan blue and white" when discussing the porcelain of these two dynasties.
During the reign of Yongle and Xuande, Zheng He made a total of seven sea voyages, the first voyage began in the third year of Yongle (1405), and the last voyage ended in the eighth year of Xuande (1433). During this period, China began rich and diversified diplomatic exchanges with the outside world, such as the blue and white glaze brought back by Zheng He-Su Ma Liqing. Su Ma Liqing was produced in the Persian region at that time, and this glaze, whether it was fired repeatedly or at high temperatures, showed a very stable blue color. The reason why "Yongxuan Blue Flower" can become an artistic peak is that Su Ma has contributed to the green glaze. For example, "Three Dynasty Worship", created in 1495, is an oil painting created by an Italian Renaissance painter, in which the three wise men hold blue and white porcelain from the Ming Dynasty; Another example is the "Feast of the Gods" created in 1514, the painting ** shows a lot of blue and white porcelain, which has the rich color of oriental art, and it can be seen that the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty is not only loved by domestic literati, but also sought after by foreign countries This kind of smooth and smooth porcelain.
In addition to the Ming Yongle blue and white seawater river cliff pattern three-legged furnace, there is also a blue and white porcelain that has also attracted much attention, that is, the blue and white entwined branch lotus pattern hand cup now in the Palace Museum. It is the only artifact signed with the date in the blue and white porcelain of the Yongle official kiln that has been seen and unearthed so far, and it can be mutually corroborated with the documents of the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Gu Tai wrote the "Essentials of the Museum" record: "If I make a cup in the year of Yongle, the mouth is bent at the waist, the sand feet are slippery, and the center is painted with a double lion rolling ball, and the seal book in the ball is 'Yongle Year of the Ming Dynasty' six or four characters, as fine as a grain of rice, this is the top grade." Mandarin ducks are second, and those with flowers are second. The blue and white outside the cup are deep and green, the style is exquisite, it can be handed down for a long time, and the price is also very high. ”
Gold inlaid pearl celestial globe.The gold-inlaid pearl celestial globe is a model made by the Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The celestial globe consists of three parts: the seat, the bracket and the celestial sphere. The celestial sphere is inlaid with pearls with 28 constellations, 300 constellations and more than 2,200 stars, and is engraved with crape myrtle wall, Tianshi wall and Taiwei wall. Around the sphere are equatorial rings and horizon rings, and there is an hour disk at the North Pole. The bracket of the celestial globe is in the shape of a goblet of wine glasses, and the ball is supported by 9 dragons of different postures, the upper part is the dragon holding the ball of 4 heads and tails, and the lower part is the descending dragon of the inverted sea and the river on the head and tail, forming a bracket to stabilize the sphere, and a dragon in the middle connects the upper and lower parts, forming a swimming dragon holding the column. The 9 dragons are hammered to form a hollow round carving, and the surface of the dragon is decorated with dragon scales, dragon hair and dragon eyes. The dragon swallows the clouds and spits out the fog, the form is vivid, the details are finely carved and lifelike. The base of the globe is a round enamel plate base, and the whole body is coiled with a fine filament pattern, inlaid with burnt blue and light blue enamel glaze, which changes the monotony of pure gold with colorful tones. The cloisonné seat foot is in the shape of four dragon heads, and the high relief method is adopted, which is extremely decorative. On the base plate is the rushing sea waves, the seat has the four elephants of east, south, west and north, and the center of the seat is a compass (compass). A blend of science and art, this masterpiece is a collection of pearls of different sizes, set on a sphere and engraved with the names of the constellations. In fact, as early as the Kangxi Emperor's time, the emperor had a strong interest in Western disciplines.
In the seventh year of Kangxi Reign (1668), Yang Guangxian, who was then the supervisor of Qintianjian but "only knew the calendar, did not know the number", was defeated in a duel with the Western Jesuit Nan Huairen on the measurement of the sun's shadow, and was driven out of the Qintianjian. It was during this battle that Emperor Kangxi felt that his ministers could only be regarded as outsiders due to their lack of knowledge and skills, and could not make expert judgments, so soon after, he focused on cultivating his own grassroots astronomical talents.
In the eighth year of Kangxi (1669), Emperor Kangxi was determined to learn Western arithmetic, he first hired Nan Huairen as his teacher, and let him teach the French mathematician Parde's "Principles of Geometry", and then hired French missionaries Bai Jin and Zhang Cheng to teach the French mathematician Barty's "Practical and Theoretical Geometry", which combined with astronomical instruments interspersed with some measurement knowledge. Emperor Kangxi learned the theory of Western arithmetic, and at the same time personally operated instruments in the field to learn the actual measurement, Bai Jin once commented in the book "The Biography of Emperor Kangxi": "He applied the most interesting things learned in geometry to practice, and used some astronomical instruments as a kind of fun." ”
For example, in the 32nd year of the Kangxi reign (1693), the silver-plated and gold-plated simple flat ground level combination instrument made by the Qing Palace Construction Office, the combination instrument was composed of 6 pieces of instruments with different functions, which were cleverly designed and integrated. Another example is that in the 53rd year of the Kangxi reign (1714), the copper-plated stardial made by the Qing Palace Office found the time by measuring the stars. The production of this stardial is based on the design principles of similar Western instruments, and is also integrated with traditional Chinese timekeeping methods, which has its own uniqueness. By the time of Emperor Yongzheng, Western objects had become fashionable in the palace. For example, in "The Twelve Beauties of Yongzheng", a beautiful woman sits next to the bookcase with a beautiful enamel watch, and the "armillary sphere" is placed on the small long table next to her; Behind another beauty is a rosewood painted enamel chiming bell.
From Emperor Kangxi to Emperor Yongzheng to Emperor Qianlong, emperors' interest in Western knowledge has never waned, reflecting the exchange and integration of Chinese and Western cultures in the Qing Dynasty, and the exquisite gold-inlaid pearl celestial globe is a testament to this history.