Rare treasures of the Tang Dynasty were unearthed in a pottery urn 152

Shaanxi History Museum is an unmissable place to visit in Xi'an, and the Shaanxi History Museum, in addition to the free permanent exhibition, there are tickets 20 yuan "Tang legacy treasures - Hejiacun cellar excavation of cultural relics exhibition" and tickets 300 yuan Tang Dynasty fresco treasures Museum, 300 yuan Tang Dynasty fresco treasures Museum is afraid that most professionals or enthusiasts to go, 20 yuan of the Tang legacy exhibition is worth going in to open eyes.
In fact, from the Shaanxi History Museum's permanent exhibition all the way it seems, ingenious, valuable treasures of all dynasties have seen a lot, for rare treasures seems to have been some aesthetic fatigue, but into the "Tang legacy of treasure - Hejiacun cellar excavation of cultural relics exhibition" exhibition area, still bright, by those exquisite treasure shocked.
The rare treasures come from two Tang Dynasty pottery urns and a beam jar buried in the ground; on October 5, 1970, on an infrastructure site in Hejia Village, a southern suburb of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, construction workers unearthed a pottery urn 65 cm high and 60 cm in diameter, which contained a large amount of gold and silver; on October 11, not far north of the first pottery urn excavation site, archaeologists found another pottery urn of similar size, which was covered with a layer of silver slag. On October 11, not far north of the first pottery urn excavation site, archaeologists found another pottery urn of similar size, covered with a layer of silver slag, which contained gold, silver and jade; archaeologists also found a silver jar with a height of 30 cm and a belly diameter of 25 cm next to the pottery urn, which contained a fine gold-encrusted onyx cup with animal heads. In total, more than 1,000 artefacts were unearthed. Most of the artefacts belong to the Tang Dynasty, the Hejiacun cellar can be called the "crown jewel", and some experts call it the "Hejiacun Legacy" and the "Great Tang Legacy", which is similar to the famous Western It has become a major archaeological discovery of the 20th century, corresponding to the famous Western archaeological discovery "Amu Darya Treasure".

It is not only a treasure of the Shaanxi History Museum, but also a national treasure, made of red agate, which is extremely rare in the world, and is one of the most important cultural relics not allowed to be exhibited outside of China.

The exhibition of excavated artefacts from the Hejiacun Cellar is located on the left side of the hall of the Shaanxi History Museum and requires a ticket of 20 RMB.

In the 40 years since the discovery of the "Hejiacun Relics", all the relics have never been displayed in a comprehensive and systematic manner for various reasons, so it is definitely worthwhile to spend 20 RMB to see the real appearance of the mysterious "Hejiacun Relics".

In fact, the 20th century shocked the archaeological community of Hejia Village cellar unearthed artefacts but the above two ceramic urns and a beam jar, three containers unearthed more than 1,000 pieces of various treasures, the two urns and a jar of treasures are the court, but why buried in Hejia Village, may only become a historical mystery.

There are sets of coins from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Tang Dynasty, as well as exotic coins from East Rome, Persia, Japan and other countries, which shows that the owner of the cellar has a unique hobby of collecting coins.

The earliest coin in the cave is a bronze sword coin of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, which was minted in Qi.

The 30 gold Kaiyuan Tongbao coins found in the excavation are the only ones found in the archaeological collection so far. The gold and silver Kaiyuan Tongbao coins of the Tang Dynasty were not used for market circulation, but only for reward.

The exhibition is divided into three parts: "Jade," "Gold and Silver" and "Precious Spring". The first thing that caught my eye was a piece of jade with excellent workmanship, as white as mutton fat and smooth.

The white jade bracelet with gold inlay is one of the finest jade pieces, consisting of three equal sections of curved Xinjiang Hetian white jade, each with a gold tiger's head at both ends, which could only be enjoyed by a few imperial relatives and high-ranking nobles in the Tang Dynasty.

This agate basin is made of seemingly the same material as the beast's head agate cup. This red agate, which has a deep red and light red tone, has a layer of light white in the middle. Such a magical and natural variation and such a bright and lovely colour make this red agate a rare and colourful jade material in the world.

The rare material and the ingenious design, coupled with the thousand years of intact preservation, make the beast-head agate cup a national treasure.

It is likely that the precious agate cup came to China from the West as an ambassador of cultural exchange, but it cannot be ruled out that it came from a Central or West Asian artisan living in Chang'an, or that it was a masterpiece made by a Tang artisan who studied foreign craftsmanship and used foreign tribute materials to make it.

The "Gold and Silver" exhibition area is even more dazzling, with a dazzling array of treasures.

Each piece is a rare treasure, dazzling, exquisite and clever.

The gold bowl with the lotus petal pattern of mandarin ducks is also one of the four national treasures unearthed in Hejiacun. Two gold bowls with the same shape and decoration were unearthed at that time, and the inner walls were written in ink "9.5 taels" and "9.3 taels" respectively, which should be the weight of the bowl.

Red gold walking dragon, broad mouth, double horns, long tail dragging, as running, decorated with flaky scales around the body, then the dragon seems more like today's dog.

A silver bowl with animal motifs on the bottom.

The production techniques in the Hejiacun cellar represent the highest level of the Tang Dynasty, and the Hejiacun gold and silver vessels give us an intuitive and in-depth understanding of metal smelting, mechanical design and processing, welding, and precious metal production in the Tang Dynasty.

Experts speculate that simple lathes may have been used to cut and polish materials at that time and that the craftsmanship of welding, riveting, plating, engraving and chiselling of the relics in the cellar collection had reached a high level, while the appearance of a large number of high-quality silver objects also indicates the progress of silver smelting technology at that time.

The treasures in the Hejiacun cellar also show a strong multi-cultural element. Some artefacts came directly from Persian Sassanid, Eastern Roman, Central Asian Sutra and Japan, etc. Due to the opening of society in the early Tang Dynasty, a large number of objects from outside the Tang Dynasty proper, and even religion and culture, flowed into the Tang Dynasty proper along the Silk Road.

For example, this gilt silver cup with an eight-pronged gilded musical instrument still retains the style of a Suthenian cup with a handle, but the figures on it have been completely Chinese, making it a work of art that blends East and West.

A silver bowl with a double fish design on the bottom.

A silver plate with two foxes in the shape of twin peaches, the two peach-shaped plates are in the shape of two linked peaches, and two foxes with their heads and tails staggered and looking at each other is punched in the centre of the two peach-shaped plates by the die-punch method, making the shape extremely vivid.

A silver jar with a plain surface and a lifting beam, the metallurgy of the Tang Dynasty were beyond our imagination.

It is the third national treasure of He Jia cun, and is the largest and most exquisite silver jar of the Tang dynasty known to date. What is more legendary is that there was still half a jar of water inside the jar when it was unearthed, on which floated an extremely thin sheet of gold foil, on which stood twelve delicate and slender red gold dragons, and more than ten stones of different colours scattered in the water, still dazzling after a thousand years.

Among the four national treasures, I am afraid that the most interesting story is this gilt silver jug with a dancing horse and a cup. After the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, 500 horses were offered to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang for military use, and he thought he was the "Prince of Peace" and did not need any military horses. The four hundred horses were trained to dance with music, and the world's skilled craftsmen were summoned to build a huge and gorgeous dancing platform in Huaqing Palace, intending to give Yang Guifei a big surprise.

The first time Yang Guifei saw four hundred tall horses dancing, she was so happy that she laughed out loud, but it did not last long. One day, Tian Chengsi hosted a banquet for the soldiers in the army, ordered the soldiers to play music, but unexpectedly strange things happened, with the music, the dancing horses have been dancing to the beat, feeding the horse officer saw it and could not help but be angry from the heart, the army war horses since ancient times are loyal and courageous, how can these evil dancing horses demonic confuse the public, disrupting the army? These demons must be eliminated. After hearing this, Tian Chengsi felt justified and ordered the soldiers to flog all the dancing horses to death. The unearthing of the silver pot also confirmed for the first time the story of the "dancing horse" which was a short-lived story in history.
The "Hejiacun Relic" has left a wonderful and shocking experience for future generations, but also left a thousand-year-old mystery and suspense: when was this treasure buried? Who was its owner? Why was it buried? Experts and scholars still have different opinions and confusion. The excavators of this treasure believe that the time of burial was in the late Tang Dynasty (the end of the 8th century), the specific location is on the part of the Duke Li Shouli's palace in Xinghua Square, the cellar was buried in a panic, there are also experts according to the latest inscription in the cellar "Kaiyuan XIX year" Youtong silver cake will be buried in the An Shi Rebellion, clearly pointed out that this batch of It is clear that the royal treasures were buried by Duke Li Cheng Ning, the son of Duke Li Shou li, during the An Shi Rebellion. Some scholars believe that the treasures were buried in a hurry during the war by Liu Zhen, a prominent official of the Tang Dynasty, and the burial of the treasures should be in the Jing Yuan mutiny that broke out in the fourth year of Emperor Dezong's Jianzhong (783 A.D.), which means that the treasures of Hejia Village were the court treasures that were collected and kept by the Yong transfer. There are also experts who believe that the Hejiacun relics are the royal treasures managed by the Shang Department in the Tang government, and the cellar is a subdued relocation. Because many of the excavated artefacts have "ink book", "ink book" involves the weight of the artefacts and the precious herbs contained in the artefacts, and can be recorded in detail, indicating that these artefacts were extracted from the treasury in strict accordance with the procedures, and not in the war The truth of history is a mystery.
The truth of history has become a mystery, but the rare treasures unearthed inside these two ceramic urns and a beam jar bear witness to the height of the Great Tang Dynasty, the most glorious era in Chinese history.