Old Summer Palace animal head.
To put it bluntly, it is actually an ancient version of a fountain faucet.
But the reason why it is precious is that its craftsmanship was the pinnacle of China's copper refining at that time.
And this also has the function of the clock at that time, which is the scale.
This is not the most important thing,
The main reason is that the bronze statues with twelve animal heads are not only works of art, but also historical witnesses. They record the glory and tragedy of the Old Summer Palace, and also reflect the humiliation and revival of China's modern history.
Many foreign auction companies have maliciously raised the prices of many Chinese cultural relics because they believe that China cannot bear to see national treasures lost to the outside world.
Castiglione was the main designer of the Old Summer Palace.
Castiglione was born in Milan, Italy in 1688. He loved painting since he was a child, so he established a good club foundation and painting experience at a very young age.
Around the time he was in his early 20s, Castiglione achieved the achievement of painting a portrait of the Portuguese Crown Prince, and everyone who saw him paint praised him endlessly.
Just in 1714, when Castiglione was 26 years old.
He traveled thousands of miles to Yanjing in the Qing Dynasty and became a missionary. From then on, he started his life in the Qing palace and never left China until his death.
The Qing Dynasty introduced many missionaries since the Shunzhi period.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty was powerful, and the reason why missionaries were introduced was because of some technological and cultural differences between China and foreign countries.
Missionaries have several main functions:
First of all, China's firearms, that is, cannon technology, was not mature at that time, so many missionaries were introduced to make cannons.
The second is foreign astronomy and mathematics. In ancient times, there has always been a department called Qintianjian, which is mainly responsible for almanac and astronomical observations. Foreign countries are much better than China in this regard.
The last thing is painting.
In fact, this is what the missionaries want.
Most of the ancient Chinese scholar-bureaucrats and emperors were obsessed with the study of painting and calligraphy. Missionaries were not good at calligraphy, but their Western painting methods and techniques aroused great interest in the rulers and senior officials of the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, in order to preach in China, this group of missionaries can be said to need each other with the Chinese officialdom.
China needs some of their advanced technologies and painting methods, and missionaries need to be recognized by the Chinese rulers so that they can better preach in China and maintain the relationship between the two countries.
At that time, China was still a giant dragon in the East, and most small countries had to pay tribute to China.
Castiglione is that outstanding painter.
When he first came to China, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty was still Kangxi, who was his first boss. At first, Lang Shining was just an unknown missionary in the Qing palace. When Kangxi summoned him, he said: "Western teachings violate Chinese orthodoxy, but the state hired missionaries only if they knew mathematics.”
Therefore, Castiglione's main job at that time was not painting. He was mainly asked to study mathematics and clocks. He was full of talents but had very little room to display them.
When Yongzheng ascended the throne, Lang Shining seized the opportunity to establish his position.
Yongzheng liked to hear some auspicious words, and the ministers expressed "auspiciousness" to Yongzheng's ascension to the throne. Naturally, Castiglione was among them, but this time he made full use of his own expertise. He carefully drew a "Picture of Gathering Auspiciousness" and "Auspiciousness". "Valley Picture" is presented.
Yongzheng was very satisfied after seeing it, and directly ordered the "Auspicious Valley Map" to be promulgated, saying: "This map is for the governors of all provinces. I am not exaggerating, I think it is auspicious."
Yongzheng also gradually noticed Lang Shining, and then he created "Song Xian Yingzhi" and other works dedicated to Yongzheng. "Hundred Horses", one of the top ten famous paintings handed down from generation to generation, was also born during this period.
Later, during the Qianlong period, Castiglione was not only unaffected by the speed of replacement of old and new officials in the palace, but was also appreciated by Emperor Qianlong.
Qianlong was different from his father and grandfather. He liked painting and writing poetry.
And he also wanted the painter to draw his figures, but the figures painted by the court painter did not satisfy him.
Until Lang Shining wrote and created works such as "Portrait of Emperor Qianlong in Court Dress" and "Qianlong's Military Parade".
Castiglione's technique of combining Western oil painting with the aesthetics of the Qing Dynasty completely subverted the portraits of previous emperors, and the abstract works became as realistic as photographs.
These works greatly satisfied Qianlong.
It was from this time that his position in the Qing Palace was firmly established.
And at that time, Castiglione combined Western painting and Chinese painting techniques, gradually forming a new style of palace painting that combined Chinese and Western styles.
"Lang Qing, I want to build a Western-style building in the Old Summer Palace, and I will leave this design to you!"
Suddenly one day, Lang Shining received a mission from Qianlong.
When Qianlong first took office, he renovated the Old Summer Palace. At the beginning of the renovation, he had the idea of building a Western-style building, but he never had a good design plan.
It was not until Lang Shining gradually revealed his strength that Qianlong gave Lang Shining such a task.
In this regard, Lang Shining had no reason to refuse.
He had even thought that such a day would come.
Because as early as three years ago, after the Frenchman Jiang Youren came to China to become a missionary, he began to study physics, water conservancy and other related machinery in China.
In 1747, the twelfth year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong saw among the tributes presented by French missionaries, one of them was a picture album "The Most Beautiful Architectural Landscapes in France" presented by Louis XIV.
Qianlong was very interested when he saw a drawing of a water jet inside, so he asked Castiglione to explain it to him.
Under this circumstance, Qianlong asked Castiglione to add such a design to the design of the Western-style Building in Yuanmingyuan.
In addition to being beautiful and elegant, this design also has the function of telling time.
Now that Emperor Qianlong has begun to issue orders, Castiglione began to design. The design of the entire Western-style building mostly refers to European design styles.
You have to say that European-style architecture has been a very beautiful architectural style for a period of time, and its design style seems to be that grand. Many developers, such as H University, which has been exposed to thunder, are extremely good at it. European style.
Maybe this has something to do with the luxury that their boss Xu pursues.
Whether it is garden landscapes, buildings, or even some sketches, they all have the elements of flying horses and clocks, and the final effect will be very palace-like.
Qianlong had the magnificent ambition to accommodate the world, and he wanted to record all his great achievements.
It's just a pity that later...
