Glimmering stars converge into history—Shandong Museum (Part II): The Rites Travel Eastward
The special exhibition 'The Rites Travel Eastward: The Essence of Ancient Civilization in Shandong' at the Shandong Museum, although organized by the Tsinghua University Art Museum, displayed 465 cultural relics from more than 50 cultural and historical institutions across Shandong. Nearly half of these are first-class cultural relics. It can be said that the exhibition uses 'rites' as a thread to gather the fine cultural relics of Shandong, truly a magnificent sight.
The exhibition is divided into seven sections: 'Dawn's Early Light, Adorned with Rites', 'Mount Tai in Verdant Hue, Jade Rites to All Directions', 'Royal Rites in Lu, Long Transmitted Under Heaven', 'Splendid and Radiant in Lu', 'High Mountains Look Up, Climbing Tai to View the Sea', 'Renowned Craftsmen of the North, The East Smiles Gently', 'Painting Heaven and Earth, Steles Convey the Ancient'. It showcases from various perspectives the Eastern cultural genes of Chinese civilization and its own developmental journey, always inheriting the same lineage.
Stepping slowly into the exhibition hall, what catches the eye is the treasure of the Shandong Museum—the 'Eggshell Black Pottery Stem Cup' (Figures 1, 2). The cup is as thin as an eggshell, with a uniformly black and shiny color, symmetrical structure, and a smooth outline. It stands quietly and ethereally in the center of the entrance hall, silently conveying the ancient civilization of Shandong's simplicity, elegance, and profound solemnity. The design is clever, with the thinnest part of the rim less than 0.2 millimeters. The belly is decorated with cone-shaped openwork, and inside the belly is a clay ball that makes a sound when shaken. The Eggshell Black Pottery Stem Cup is a representative artifact of the Longshan culture, renowned in the art of modeling for being 'black as lacquer, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, and sounding like a chime', a product of the peak period of prehistoric pottery making.
The Nine-Tasseled Crown (Figure 3) was unearthed in 1971 from the tomb of King Zhu Tan of Ming Lu in Zoucheng, Shandong. The crown is made of finely woven bamboo silk into a hexagonal mesh, with the surface covered in black silk gauze, most of which has fallen off. The front and back of the crown are inlaid with rectangular gold frames with dwarf corners, with plum blossom gold piercings and gold hairpins on both sides. The outside of the yoke board is pasted with a layer of black gauze, which has faded. The Nine-Tasseled Crown, with tassels strung with red, white, blue, yellow, and black jade beads. Below the board is a jade balance, with holes for tying ropes at both ends of the balance, and each end has hanging ear pendants, which are round jade beads. This Nine-Tasseled Crown of King Zhu Tan is the only surviving early Ming dynasty crown in China, filling a historical gap and possessing extremely high historical and artistic value.
The exhibition displayed numerous pottery pieces unearthed from the Dawenkou culture to the Longshan culture period, with black pottery being mysteriously exquisite and painted pottery having beautiful patterns.
The Red Pottery Animal-Shaped Pot (Figure 4) is modeled after livestock and created with advanced pottery techniques. Its unique shape and rich connotations have made it one of the top ten treasures of the Shandong Museum. The Warring States Period Green Jade Bi (Figure 5) has a diameter of 30.9 centimeters, a size that is very rare. The artifact is flat and circular, with two raised bands dividing the surface into three areas, with the inner area featuring three groups of double-tailed dragon patterns, the middle area with shallow relief grain patterns, and the outer area decorated with five groups of double-tailed dragon patterns.
The Mandate of Heaven Box (Figure 14) was formerly in the collection of the Confucius Family Mansion. Carved from wood and gilded, the center features a vertical square blue plaque inscribed with the bilingual Manchu and Han characters 'Mandate of Heaven'. The whole is composed of a base, an inner box, and an outer lid. The base is in the style of a Sumeru pedestal, decorated with cloud patterns. The front has five dragons, and the sides and back have four dragons each, making a total of nine dragons. This box is exquisitely crafted, elaborately decorated, and regal, specifically used to preserve imperial edicts. It is not only evidence of the close relationship between the Confucius Family Mansion and the imperial court but also a symbol of the royal ceremony and demeanor of ancient China.
The Bamboo-Section Handle Bronze Wine-Drawing Vessel (Figures 18, 19) is a cultural relic from the Warring States period. It is said that there are only three such pieces in the country, consisting of a dragon head holding a ring, a bamboo-section handle, and a bud-shaped spherical base, hollow, with a hole at the bottom and on the handle.
It ingeniously uses the principle of atmospheric pressure to draw wine, predating the Magdeburg hemispheres experiment in Europe by more than a thousand years.
Shandong Museum