
BEIJING, 1 October (BelTA - Xinhua) - This year marks the 100th
anniversary of the founding of the Palace Museum. The opening ceremony
of the exhibition "A Century of Stewardship: From the Forbidden City to
the Palace Museum" was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing.
About three thousand years ago, the people
of Sanxingdui cast alloys of copper, tin, and lead into various images,
including giant sacred trees, massive masks, and imposing deities. The
latest research indicated that these bronze artifacts were adorned with
brilliant colors over their golden surfaces.
Ancient bronze artifacts often have a greenish hue, which is actually the result of corrosion that occurs after being buried underground for thousands of years. This greenish tint obscures their original appearance, which was a dazzling shade of gold.
Through technological analysis, archaeologists have unveiled the "color code" of Sanxingdui's bronze artifacts. The colors discovered so far include black and red. Black is commonly found in the eyebrows, eyes, and hair of bronze figures and masks, and is also used to depict special patterns and symbols.
Red often appears on the petals of bronze sacred trees and in the intricate grooves of bronze vessels and the clothing of figures.
These painted designs have been found on hundreds of bronze figures, mythical beasts, dragon heads, and other artifacts, some of which are even visible to the naked eye.
"It was previously believed that painted bronze artifacts in China were mostly seen during the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.), Qin (221 B.C.-207 B.C.) and Han (202 BC-8 AD) dynasties," said Liu Baige, a postdoctoral researcher responsible for the findings at the Sichuan provincial cultural relics and archaeology research institute.
"The discovery, in large quantities, and with exquisite craftsmanship and natural materials from Sanxingdui, has pushed back the timeline for their emergence in China by nearly a thousand years," said Liu.
Discovered in the late 1920s in Guanghan, Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui Ruins are considered one of the world's most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
The
exhibition features 200 pieces (sets) of cultural relics, offering a
multidimensional interpretation of the Chinese civilization and the
evolution of the Palace Museum.
Ancient bronze artifacts often have a greenish hue, which is actually the result of corrosion that occurs after being buried underground for thousands of years. This greenish tint obscures their original appearance, which was a dazzling shade of gold.
Through technological analysis, archaeologists have unveiled the "color code" of Sanxingdui's bronze artifacts. The colors discovered so far include black and red. Black is commonly found in the eyebrows, eyes, and hair of bronze figures and masks, and is also used to depict special patterns and symbols.
Red often appears on the petals of bronze sacred trees and in the intricate grooves of bronze vessels and the clothing of figures.
These painted designs have been found on hundreds of bronze figures, mythical beasts, dragon heads, and other artifacts, some of which are even visible to the naked eye.
"It was previously believed that painted bronze artifacts in China were mostly seen during the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.), Qin (221 B.C.-207 B.C.) and Han (202 BC-8 AD) dynasties," said Liu Baige, a postdoctoral researcher responsible for the findings at the Sichuan provincial cultural relics and archaeology research institute.
"The discovery, in large quantities, and with exquisite craftsmanship and natural materials from Sanxingdui, has pushed back the timeline for their emergence in China by nearly a thousand years," said Liu.
Discovered in the late 1920s in Guanghan, Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui Ruins are considered one of the world's most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.