The treasure of Yunnan Bozhen Museum, "Golden-winged Bird of Dali Kingdom in Song Dynasty inlaid with silver and gold-plated beads", turned out to be an exotic bird.

As a treasure of Yunnan Provincial Museum, the golden-winged bird in Dali in Song Dynasty was not only recommended to participate in the opening exhibition "Why China" in 2022, but also selected in the second season of "National Treasure", showing its national treasure status.

But this kind of bird is not native to Yunnan. The goldfinch is also called "Goruda". Its earliest image appeared in India's Mahabharata. Its image is mostly human face, beak and crown, with human body above the waist and bird body below the waist. After the founding of Buddhism, the golden winged bird became one of the eight protectors of Buddhism because it absorbed the Hindu spiritual culture. In The Journey to the West, it was written by Mr. Wu Cheng'en as the Buddha's uncle.

According to the official website of Yunnan Provincial Museum, this golden-winged bird is very big, reaching 336 Wan Li when spreading its wings. This reminds me of the Dapeng bird described by Zhuangzi in "Happy Travel". "Peng's back is thousands of miles away; Fly away in anger, and its wings hang like clouds. " The combination of Taoism and Buddhism produced the golden winged bird in Dali.

Why does Dali worship golden-winged birds? Because Erhai Lake in ancient Dali was often flooded, Dali people suffered greatly from floods. People think there is a dragon in Erhai Lake. If the dragon can be subdued, the flood will disappear. In Buddhist culture, golden-winged birds have enemies with dragons, and they feed on dragons. Dali people are looking forward to having a golden-winged bird to eat the dragon in Erhai Lake. So this kind of golden-winged bird statue with silver-plated golden beads was produced and decorated as a protective body at the top of the three towers of Chongsheng Temple, so as to protect Dali from bad weather.

1925, a strong earthquake occurred in Dali area, and countless houses collapsed and were destroyed. Only the three pagodas in Dali are still in place. Unfortunately, the pagoda of Chihiro Pagoda and the Dapeng golden-winged bird standing at the top of the tower were knocked down by the earthquake, and some cultural relics hidden in the pagoda fell to the ground, which was looted by people who heard the news and disappeared.

From 65438 to 0978, the state allocated special funds to repair the three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali, which fell into disrepair for a long time. During the cleaning, more than 680 pieces of cultural relics were found on the tower top and tower body, including buddhist supplies such as Buddha statues, scrolls and King Kong, as well as a large number of gold and silver vessels, including golden Buddha statues, golden winged birds, golden pagodas, carved gold pieces and gold-signing boxes.

This kind of golden-winged bird is made of silver, covered with gold, with a beautiful crest, wings curled inward and powerful claws, standing on the rosette; The tail feather extends upward in a flame shape, decorated with five crystal beads, stepping on the rosette, vigorous and full of vitality.

This golden-winged bird also used various techniques such as casting, carving, welding and gold plating. Firstly, the head, body and tail of the bird were cast separately, carved in detail, welded into a whole and decorated with crystal beads. Its wonderful modeling and exquisite craftsmanship represented the superb level of Dali's gold and silver craftsmanship at that time.