According to the analysis in blog#1, Si Mu Wu Ding vessel is one of the greatest green bronze ware in the Chinese history. The unique figures that decorate the vessel illustrate the culture belief, civilization power, and scientific discovery at the time. Si Mu Wu Ding is created for royal family usage. The emperor is using this vessel to worship his mother. Since the vessel is used by the emperor. All the decoration on the vessel must symbolize the emperor’s specialty and his power in the civilization.
The 
leg of the vessel is decorated with figures of ferocious animal. The animal has an angry emotion on its face. It stares at the leg of the vessel, given the feeling of fear. This is symbolizing the seriousness of the worship ceremony. The body of the vessel is decorated with cloud curve line on each edge. The lines on the top edge representing the cloud in the sky and the lines at the bottom of the edge symbolize the ground and water. The empty space in the middle represents our world. This picture demonstrates people’s understanding with the surrounding environment at that time. Local people will always stay in the middle of the space. Only the emperor can make connections with the sky and the ground. The decoration figure of two tiger eating a human head on the loop handle of the vessel interests me the most. Tiger is a powerful animal, It is the king in the animal world. In this figure the Tiger representing the highest royal power in the civilization which is hold by the emperor. The emotion of the human face between the two tiger mouth is peaceful; without 
any fear. This human figure represents the emperor. It means that even the tiger cannot scare the emperor; he is the real king over anything. Base on my research, this decoration is the early form of "Two dragons play ball". After Qin dynasty, Chinese believe the emperor is not just the son of the sky but the human form of a dragon. Therefore, the tiger is translated into dragon and the human figure is changed to the ball which represents the sun. Although the figure changed, it is still representing the highest power in the royal society owned by the emperor.
In conclusion, these decorations symbolize the society and time. It influence a lot of the architecture design in the Chinese history. Although the Royal emperor is no exist any more, the way of using object in the surrounding environment to symbolize the society or a person will be carry on into the modern era.
Zhaoyu Hunter Chen
No comments:
Post a Comment