Chapter 6 The second section of the gorgeous life destination

Since the 1970s, Chinese archaeologists have successively discovered six silk paintings of the Han Dynasty.They are: silk paintings from Han Tomb No. 1 in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan, four silk paintings from Han Tomb No. 3, and silk paintings from Han Tomb No. 9 in Jinqueshan, Linyi, Shandong.Among them, the silk paintings unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb No. 1 are the most representative. In 1972, a well-preserved tomb of the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in Mawangdui, the eastern suburb of Changsha City, Hunan Province.When people opened the six-story coffin, a miracle appeared: a female corpse buried more than 2,000 years ago did not rot.Eyebrows and hair, facial features are vaguely discernible, and muscles seem to be alive and elastic, which shocked the whole world for a while.This tomb is named Mawangdui No. 1 Han Tomb.According to historical research, the owner of the tomb is the wife of Xiang Licang of Changsha Kingdom who was conferred the title of Marquis of Dai in the early Western Han Dynasty.Its excavation not only provides precious historical materials for the study of social economy, politics, culture, and medicine in the Han Dynasty, but also the numerous funerary objects, clothing brocades, figurines, utensils, and lacquered coffins are rare works of art.Among them, a Mingjing silk painting covering the inner coffin is the most wonderful.

Ming Jing, also known as Ming Jing, is the banner in front of the coffin in ancient times.This kind of traditional burial existed in the Warring States Period.For example, the two silk paintings, "Character Dragon and Phoenix Picture" and "Character Yulong Picture" unearthed from the Chu Tomb in Changsha mentioned in the previous chapter, both depict the tomb owner's ascension to heaven under the guidance of a dragon and phoenix.Judging from the picture, the composition is simple, but the painting method is not complete.The silk painting unearthed from Mawangdui No. 1 Han Tomb is much more mature and complete artistically.It can be seen that the painting of the Han Dynasty has a new development of the painting of the pre-Qin Dynasty.

This silk painting is 205 centimeters high, 92 centimeters wide at the top, and 47.7 centimeters at the bottom. There are floating tassels on the four corners, and the whole painting is in the shape of a "T".From top to bottom, the three parts of heaven, earth and underground are drawn.The wider part of the upper part of the silk painting depicts heaven.In the middle of the top is a person with a human head and a snake body, who is considered to be the goddess Nuwa who dominates the sky in the records.There is a big orange sun on the upper right, and the sun god-Jinwu stands in the middle.Below is a white dragon intertwined with a hibiscus tree, with eight small suns in between.According to ancient mythology, there are 10 days in the sky, which illuminate the earth in turn and inhabit Fusang alternately.Scholars have different opinions on why there are nine suns drawn here.Some think that the leaves block a sun, and some think that there is a theory of "nine suns" in the "Han Shu".A crescent moon is drawn on the upper left, with a toad [chan chu qianchu] and a jade rabbit on top, and a little man on the bottom who wants to fly to the moon, which seems to be Chang'e who stole the elixir.In the middle part, a winged flying dragon faces the white dragon on the right with its head raised.In the middle are flying phoenix birds and humanoid monsters riding pegasus.Below it seems to be the gate of heaven, and there are two gatekeepers talking to each other, with a leopard guarding each gatepost behind them.The middle part of the silk painting depicts the human scene.In the middle is a noble lady who is about to move with a stick. A waiter kneels to meet her with a case, and a maid follows behind.This gorgeously dressed old woman is very similar to the well-preserved female corpse, which may be the portrait of the wife of the owner of the tomb.There is a divine bird flying high above the gate of heaven, as if it is waiting to guide her soul to ascend to heaven.Below is a jade bi, with two dragons coiled around the bi, and their huge bodies run through the whole picture.On the curtain of the symbolic room, there are two people with human faces and bird bodies staring at each other. A chime is hung under the curtain, and a tripod pot and tableware are displayed under the chime.The lower part of the silk painting depicts the underground.A naked giant straddles a red snake and stands on the back of two crossed fish, holding a flat object symbolizing the earth in both hands.On both sides of the big fish there are big turtles, owls [chi xiao eats away] and so on.

This silk painting shows us a colorful and dazzling romantic world.In this magical world, there are not only real-life characters and scenes, but also a strange fairyland where flying dragons are entangled, the sky is flying, and owls are singing.They are interspersed with each other and constitute the ideal life destination of a Han Dynasty person.In the face of death, they did not fear or groan, but rather longed and begged for eternal happiness after death.So in their fantasies, the world of heaven and gods is also colorful and full of vitality. This silk painting basically adopts the painting method of single-line flat painting, that is, first draws with light ink, then paints with various colors flatly, and finally draws with ink lines.In some places, such as the faces and curtains of the characters, there are also traces of shade rendering.The whole painting is finely crafted, the shape is accurate and vivid, and the lines are smooth and varied.A large number of mineral pigments such as cinnabar, azurite, and stone green are used for coloring, and the colors of the pictures are bright and vivid.