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Excavated artifacts can awaken our ancient memories.
Henan Puyang West Water Slope Site M45 unearthed with mussel shell swing sculpture of the "Dragon and Tiger Map".
The so-called dragon is a side-view effect of the body of the dragon, with horns on the head, a long snout and a large mouth, four legs with claws, a long tail and a few equal to the body, similar to a crocodile.
Henan Puyang West Water Slope M45 with a clam shell swing sculpture of the dragon and tiger figure
Henan Yanshi Erlitou site unearthed a turquoise inlaid dragon-shaped vessel, the shape of the vessel is a top-down effect of the body of the dragon, square head and long tail, no foot claws, similar to a snake.
The turquoise dragon-shaped ware of the Erlitou site of Yanshi in Henan
Since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, dragons have been widely used for the decoration of utensils, especially bronze and jade. Dragons and snakes are characterized by their ability to bend and stretch, and their shapes can adapt to various shapes. Shang and Zhou bronzes, the belly, ears, and base are mostly decorated with climbing dragons or sleeping dragons, which belong to the Shushen dragon, and the disc utensils and C-shaped jade ornaments are mostly used with capuchin dragons.
Shanxi Shilou Taohuazhuang Shang Tomb unearthed a Shang Dynasty dragon pattern, the shape of the vessel is decorated with dragons, and there are crocodile patterns. This vessel is the most representative for the study of the image of the dragon in Shang Dynasty art.
The dragon pattern unearthed from the merchant tomb of Taohuazhuang in Shilou, Shanxi
1.Shaped. It was named in the Song Dynasty. The Song people divided the 匜 into two categories, one is without a cover, that is, the so-called 匜 today, the inscription is called 匜, and the other is a beast head cover, without a self-name, which is called "兕觥" by the "Continuation of the Archaeological Map". The "Book of Songs" mentions "兕姥", where the four see ("Curling Ears", "July", "Mulberry", "Silk Clothes").
Wang Guowei believes that this kind of utensils are wine vessels, which are used for sacrificial enjoyment, rather than fertile irrigation. But his so-called scheming is divided into dragon heads, ox heads, sheep heads, and tiger heads, not all of which are ox heads. The so-called in ancient times mostly referred to the one-horned rhinoceros. "Erya Shi Beast" says "兕, like a cow", and "Shuowen Jiezi 兕部" says "like a wild cow and green". Only the cow's head is more appropriate.
Now, let's analyze this piece unearthed in Taohuazhuang.
First of all, this device has a three-dimensional dragon head, the snout is protruding forward, there are two small nostrils on the top, a large mouth below, the mouth shows jagged fangs, two small eyes on both sides of the face, and two horns behind it, making a mallet shape, and the whole shape is similar to that of a crocodile (snakes cannot have such heads).
The dragon pattern unearthed from the merchant tomb of Taohuazhuang in Shilou, Shanxi
2.Dragon pattern on the cover 3The dragon pattern on the wall of the vessel 4Crocodile patterns on the walls of the vessel.
Secondly, there are two kinds of patterns for this device, one is an abstract dragon pattern) and the other is a realistic crocodile pattern (4). The dragon on the lid is the main body of two dragons, and the tails are hooked with each other. One is a slim dragon with a top-down effect, the head is the three-dimensional dragon head mentioned above, and the tail is represented by a yin line, without claws.
The other is a capuchin dragon with a side-view effect, which is completely expressed with a yin line, the dragon head has mallet horns, and there are letters spit out from the open mouth, and there are no claws. On both sides of the wall, there are side-looking soothing dragons and top-looking crocodile patterns. The dragon pattern is in the front, with mallet horns, and the mouth is spitting letters, similar to the capuchin dragon on the lid. The crocodile is tattooed on the back, and the scales are square-shaped.
In addition, the tail of the cover, the bottom of the wall, and the ring foot, all of which are laceped with dragons and fish. The animals on the wall of the vessel are all headed towards the tail, which is reversed from the big dragon on the lid to express the sense of swimming.
In contrast to a remnant of a Western Zhou Dynasty lid in the Henan Provincial Museum, which was unearthed in 1986 at the Shihe Port in Xinyang, Henan Province (Fig. 16) [26], it is clear that the animal head of the lid is also a dragon head.
The remnants of the Western Zhou Dynasty unearthed from the Shihe Port in Xinyang, Henan
The site of the excavation of this vessel is very close to the Yellow River. In the Yellow River Basin, there were crocodiles in ancient times.
For the confirmation of the image of the dragon in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the most convincing discovery is the copper reptile of the Western Zhou Dynasty unearthed in Haijia Village, Fufeng, Shaanxi.
This reptile is very large, with the same image as the dragon's head, with mallet horns on its head, and a ridge on its back that resembles a dragon's mane, except for its limbs, which is exactly the same as the dragon character in the Shang Dynasty oracle bone inscription (3). This kind of reptile is also seen in the early Western Zhou Dynasty Fang Ding, often used to decorate the tripod ears, both as a mallet horn, as well as as a ram horn), it can be seen that the reptile with the horns is still a dragon.
The copper climbing dragon unearthed in Haijia Village, Fufeng, Shaanxi Province and the "dragon" in the Shang Dynasty oracle bone inscription
1.Dragon Crawler 2Climbing Dragon Line Diagram 3"Dragon" in Shang Dynasty oracle bone inscriptions
Copper Climbing Dragon
1.Cheng Wang Fang Ding 2Mallet horn crawler 3CPIC Fangding 4Sheep's horn crawler.
Shang and Zhou Capuchin Dragons, ** very old.
C-shaped jade, decorated with dragons, existed in the Neolithic Age. For example, there are two kinds of jade dragons in Hongshan, one is the so-called jade hook dragon (1), the body has a single hole, and the shape of the device is larger; One is the so-called Jade Pig Dragon (2), which has a single hole (and occasionally a double hole) in its body and is smaller in shape. Similar dragons, which are also found in the south, are generally non-porous. This type of jade dragon generally does not have claws. The C-shaped jade dragon since the Shang and Zhou dynasties generally does not have foot claws, and is characterized by a dragon head with a mallet horn).
Capuchin dragon in jade
1.Red Mountain Jade Hook Dragon 2Red Mountain Jade Roll Dragon
3.The jade scroll dragon unearthed from the tomb of the woman 4The jade scroll dragon unearthed from the tomb of the woman.
Dragon-patterned disc
1.The painted dragon pattern plate unearthed from the site of Xiangfen Tao Temple in Shanxi.
2.The Freer Museum of Art has a dragon pattern plate in the collection of the Shang Dynasty.
3.The dragon pattern plate unearthed in Chenshan Township, Wenling, Zhejiang.
The dragons of the Shang and Zhou dynasties had clawed dragons, mostly sleeping dragons or climbing dragons, which were related to the shape of the instrument; Clawless dragons, mostly capuchin dragons, are spiral-shaped, and are also related to the shape of the instrument.
Personally, I understand that the clawless dragon is c-shaped or spiral-shaped, just to conform to the shape of the instrument, not to imitate the silverfish.
What do you think?