Inherit For Three Thousand Years

After Xiao Yao returned to Hanzhou City, there was an endless stream of visitors at home, which didn't stop until after the tenth day of the first lunar month.

During this period of time, he has been sorting out the harvest of treasures in Cuiping Mountain, picking out some fake antiques and low-value cultural toys, and plans to dispose of them all in a while.

Those high-value antiques were also selected for storage in categories, and it would be convenient to continue to collect or sell them for cash in the future.

What Xiao Yao cares most about are those precious antiques worth over 100 million yuan. Although the number of treasures in this batch is huge, the most valuable antiques are really valuable. Although the number of those precious antiques worth over 100 million is only a small part, the value of this batch of treasures occupies More than 80 of the total value.

After all the appraisals have been completed, there are a total of 78 antiques worth over 100 million in this batch of treasures, with a total value of more than 21 billion. The added value of the rest of the treasures adds up to about 7 billion. about 100 million.

A batch of hidden treasures with such an astonishing value is a huge surprise even for Xiao Yao!

Although the collection in the Holy Soul Ring is incomparably rich, it is after all the wealth that Pan Wu has accumulated over the past 000 years, and this batch of hidden treasures was obtained by Xiao Yao himself. the same.

Among the 78 most precious antiques, two are very special. Although Xiao Yao doesn't really recognize the value of these two cultural relics, these two cultural relics have special significance.

These two cultural relics are the snake head and the chicken head among the 12 bronze animal heads in the Yuanmingyuan.

The bronze statue of the animal heads of the twelve zodiac animals in the Yuanmingyuan was originally part of the fountain outside the Haiyan Hall in the Yuanmingyuan. It was a red bronze statue during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.

The head of the bronze statue of the zodiac is shaped in a realistic style, with fine casting, and the details such as folds and fluff on the animal head are clear and lifelike.

The material used to cast the animal head is red copper refined by the Qing court at that time. It has a deep color on the outside and a smooth inside.

According to research,

At that time, the bronze statues of the twelve zodiac signs were arranged in a figure-eight shape on both sides of a pool in front of Haiyan Hall in Yuanmingyuan, and they were called "water clocks" by people at that time.

Every day, the bronze statues of the twelve zodiac signs will spray water in turn, representing different times of the day. At noon, the twelve statues will spray water at the same time.

Haiyantang Zodiac Fountain is a fountain clock designed according to the twelve zodiac signs in my country. Every hour, the zodiac clock belonging to that hour will automatically spray water.

At twelve noon, the twelve zodiac signs spray water at the same time, and the design is extremely delicate. The main building of Haiyan Hall faces west, with eleven rooms on the upper and lower sides. There are stacked fountains on the left and right of the door, and a large fountain at the bottom of the steps. The bronze statues of the twelve zodiac animals with human bodies and animal heads are arranged on the left and right sides of the pool in a "eight" shape. At twelve hours every day and night, the twelve zodiac signs spray water in turn, commonly known as "water clock".

The portraits of the Twelve Lives were originally placed on the 12 stone platforms on the north and south banks of the fan-shaped pool fountain in front of the Haiyan Hall in the Western Building of the Old Summer Palace.

On the south bank are Zishu, Yinhu, Chenlong, Wuma, Shenhou, and Xugou; on the north bank are Chouox, Maotu, Sisnake, Weiyang, Yourooster, and Haipig.

These portraits are all beast-headed, with heads made of copper and bodies made of stone, connected to water pipes in the hollow. Every other hour, the portraits representing that time will spray water from their mouths; At the same time, the fountain is gushing out, which is a spectacle.

These bronze zodiac statues are 50 centimeters high and finely carved, making them the finest bronze wares of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1860, the British and French allied forces invaded China and burned the Old Summer Palace, and the bronze statues of animal heads began to be lost overseas.

Xiao Yao personally doesn't agree with the artistic value of the animal heads of the twelve zodiac signs in Yuanmingyuan, but its historical significance cannot be ignored.

The artistic value of the bronze animal heads in Yuanmingyuan is indeed very high, which is beyond doubt.

During the prosperous Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty was powerful and its craftsmanship was at its peak. This is particularly evident in the bronze statues of the animal heads of the twelve zodiac signs in the Yuanmingyuan.

First of all, the copper it uses is an alloy copper specially refined for the court. It contains many precious metals. It is the same as the copper used in the copper cranes displayed in the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace in Beijing. , can be called a must.

Secondly, it was carefully crafted by the craftsmen of the palace manufacturing office who specially served the emperor. Complete, clear and realistic, key parts such as the nose, eyes, ears, and the creases on the nose and neck are all very delicate, without any sloppy, showing a very high level of craftsmanship.

The bronze statues of animal heads of the twelve zodiac signs were made by Chinese court craftsmen, and the designers were Castiglione Castiglione and other European artists. Therefore, the bronze statues not only have a strong traditional Chinese aesthetic taste, but also incorporate the characteristics of Western plastic arts.

The artistic value of the bronze animal head can't be ignored, but it's still not up to the level of national treasure.

If only the artistic value of the bronze animal head is considered, even if it comes from the Old Summer Palace, the value cannot exceed 100 million.

However, if the humanistic value and historical significance represented by the bronze animal head are considered, its value is indeed immeasurable.

The value of antiques is only a part of their artistry, and some special cultural relics have a larger proportion of humanistic value and historical significance.

The bronze animal head is the cultural inheritance of our Chinese nation for thousands of years, and it also symbolizes the prosperity of our motherland. It is also a historical witness that the Old Summer Palace was plundered and burned by the Eight-Power Allied Forces. Its historical significance is far greater than its artistic quality.

Because of the special historical significance of the bronze animal head, he had to think carefully about how to deal with these two cultural relics.

Although these 78 antiques worth over 100 million yuan are precious, they are only ordinary cultural relics after all, and they are not worth moving him. What really caught his attention was one of the jade slips.

The value of this jade slip was not counted among the 78 precious cultural relics, otherwise, the value of this batch of treasures would have been multiplied.

Because this jade slip is a truly priceless treasure that cannot be measured by money.

Just the material of this jade slip already exceeds the total value of all the precious cultural objects in this batch of treasures.

The materials used to make this jade slip had disappeared as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, and they were rare even in Pan Wu's long life.

The jade material of this jade slip is called Kongming Shenyu, which is a special material specially used to store information in ancient times.

There are many kinds of materials that can store information in ancient times, but Kongming Shenyu is the most precious one among them.

Kongming Shenyu can not only store text information, but also store special information that is clearly understood by the gods that cannot be expressed in words.

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