Simu Wuding and Oracle Bone Inscriptions can reflect the history of Shang Dynasty.

The overall height 133 cm, mouth length1kloc-0/0cm, width 78 cm, foot height 46 cm, wall thickness 4 cm, and weight 832.84kg.. Dafang Ding is rectangular, with vertical ears, four hollow column feet under the abdomen, a pair of love tiger patterns on the outside of the ears, and a gluttonous pattern on the abdomen of Ding Ding. The word "Simuwu" is cast on the inner wall of the abdomen, so the full name is "Simuwu Dafang Ding". Then, Dafang Ding was a ritual vessel of the royal family in the late Shang Dynasty. The academic circles have re-examined the date of Dafangding, and think that Zu Geng and Zujia were cast by their mother in Shang Dynasty.

Mr. Li of China National Museum has studied bronzes all his life, especially Simu Wuding. He said: Simu Wuding is precious not only because it is big, but also because of its exquisite patterns and patterns, which have high artistic achievements and amazing symbolic significance. Then, let me introduce you to the gluttonous patterns and tiger patterns cast on the four wooden tripod, and see what these mysterious and magnificent patterns represent.

Gluttony pattern, also known as animal face pattern, is a mysterious image based on animals such as tigers, cows and sheep, which is created through comprehensive exaggerated artistic treatment. These exquisite patterns represent the image of natural gods and show the ancient people's worship of natural objects.

"Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" says that gluttony is a man-eating beast in ancient legends; According to Zuo Zhuan, gluttony was a vicious clan tribe in ancient times. In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the bronze ritual vessels were decorated with gluttonous patterns, which made them more mysterious and solemn. In all kinds of etiquette activities, the purpose of "linking up and down and inheriting rest days" can be achieved. In today's words, gluttony can make society achieve stability and unity.

The tiger is decorated outside the ears of Dafang Ding. The tiger is fierce and is the king of all animals. In people's minds, the tiger is a symbol of strength and courage. The love tiger tattoo on the generous tripod is even more chilling: two opposing tigers with big mouths and a head in their mouths!

However, if you look closely, you will find that the head in the tiger's mouth is fearless, as if the tiger is not really trying to eat people, but is protecting people, showing a calm expression. This illogical pattern is puzzling. Why can a man who is about to be eaten by a tiger keep a straight face?

In fact, the love tiger pattern not only appeared on Dafang Ding, but also appeared on other bronzes in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. For example, the dragon and tiger statues unearthed in Anhui and the tiger-eating statues lost to Japan and France all have similar patterns. Researchers believe that the tiger-loving pattern has some totem significance. Some scholars believe that the generous tripod is a sacrificial vessel, the wizard is a sacrificial person, and the head in the tiger's mouth may be the wizard himself, while the old fierce tiger is just a prop in normal sacrifice.

Dafangding weighs 832.84 kilograms. Casting such a huge bronze ware requires at least 1000 kg of metal raw materials, and a huge furnace must be used for casting. How was such a huge tripod cast in the Shang Dynasty 3200 years ago?

Smoothing is made of bronze, which is an alloy of copper, tin and lead. There is a record in "Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji" that "six doses of gold, six of which are gold and one is tin, is called Zhongding agent". It is found that the alloy composition of Dafang Ding is completely consistent with that recorded in ancient books.

Pottery model of ancient casting bronzes. Fan Tao is a typical example. The tripod body of Dafang tripod consists of 2 external molds on each side, 4 internal molds on the tripod body, 4 external molds on the bottom and 3 external molds on each foot. The whole tripod consists of 28 ceramic models. To the researchers' surprise, the Simuwu Dafang Ding with complicated structure was cast once, only the ears were cast first, and then it was embedded in Ding Fan. This casting process itself is a miracle, which indicates that the bronze casting technology of Shang Dynasty has reached a quite high level.

Simuwu Dafang Ding not only reflects the level of bronze culture in Shang Dynasty in China, but also occupies an extremely important position in the world bronze culture. Its huge volume and mysterious patterns are also important historical materials for studying the ancient history of China. It can really be said: "Fang Ding turned to the Central Plains, and mysterious patterns are used to describe the Spring and Autumn Period."