Characteristics of bronze statues of animal heads of the zodiac in Yuanmingyuan

The bronze statue of the zodiac is a stone carving, dressed in robes, with a realistic head and fine casting. The wrinkles and fluff on the animal's head are clear and realistic. The material for casting the animal head was refined copper from the Qing court at that time. Dark appearance, clean connotation, a hundred years of rust, a must. According to textual research, the bronze statues of the 12 zodiac animals were arranged on both sides of a pool in front of Haiyan Hall in Yuanmingyuan, and were called "hydraulic clocks" by people at that time. Every day, the bronze statues of the zodiac will spray water in turn, representing different periods of the day. At noon, the twelve elephants will spray at the same time. Tang Haiyan Zodiac Fountain is a fountain clock designed according to China Zodiac. Every time, the zodiac clock belonging to that time will automatically spray water. At noon 12 o'clock, the animals of the zodiac spray water at the same time, and the design is extremely beautiful. The main building of Haiyan Hall faces west, with eleven rooms above and eleven rooms below. There is a step fountain on the left and right of the building door, and there is a big fountain on the next step. The human head and the bronze statue of the animal head of the Chinese zodiac are arranged on the left and right sides of the fountain in a figure of eight. Every other day and night for twelve hours, the zodiac takes turns to spray water, commonly known as hydraulic clock.

The zodiac image was originally on the 12 stone platform on the north and south sides of the fan-shaped pool spray platform in front of Haiyan Hall in the west building of Yuanmingyuan. On the south bank are rats, silver tigers, dragons, afternoon horses, monkeys and dogs. There are ugly cows, rabbits, snakes, sheep, chickens and pigs on the north shore. These portraits are all animal heads, including copper heads and stone bodies, which are connected by water spray pipes in the hollow. Every hour (two hours), representing the image of the Chinese zodiac at that time, water is sprayed from the mouth; At noon, the fountain gushed out from the mouth of the zodiac at the same time, becoming a spectacle. These bronze zodiac statues are 50 cm high and beautifully carved, making them one of the most exquisite bronzes in the Qing Dynasty.

In the center of the pool is a clam stone carving about two meters high, and there are six stone seats on both sides of the pool, which are in a figure of eight. Each stone is carved with an animal head in a robe. Animals' heads are made of copper, and people are made of stone. They are arranged according to the laws of the Chinese zodiac in China. Every hour (two hours today), the head of the animal at that time sprayed water in its mouth, and the water was injected into the pool in a parabolic shape, that is, at midnight (from 23: 00 to 65438+ 0: 00 the next day), a water column was ejected from the mouth of the bronze statue of the mouse head; When it is ugly (1: 00 to 3: 00), a water column is ejected from the mouth of the bronze bull's head. At noon 12, except the horse's head continued to spray water, the mouths of the other eleven bronze animals also sprayed water columns together, and the scene was spectacular in an instant. Therefore, people can know the time as long as they see the water from the mouth of the head of the Chinese zodiac. This group of fountains is a huge and unique hydraulic clock.