Palace Museum is one of the largest comprehensive museums in my country. It is based on the Forbidden City palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and it contains countless rare cultural relics from all dynasties. You may not know that the Palace Museum has a special table in its collection. It is not only a unique national treasure, but also a little-known historical story behind it. What kind of mysterious table is it? If you are also curious, the editor will reveal the secret from the beginning to you:
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table is an indispensable furniture in our lives, with tables with various functions such as desks, dining tables and computer tables. Archaeological research shows that before the Han Dynasty, the ancients did not have the concept of "table". At that time, people sat on the ground and called the table tables used to carry objects, which can be found in many tomb murals. By the Tang Dynasty, the ancients no longer sat on the ground, so they increased the table table and the legs of the table. So the table table became a table, and there were also chairs matching the table. After the Tang and Song dynasties, with the continuous development of social productivity, the style of tables also became diverse.
Experts found that furniture was the most exquisitely made in the Ming and Qing dynasties and had the most variety. Take the table for example, there are thousands of tables of different types and functions. For example, the most common one is a square table, namely the so-called four-immortal table, six-immortal table or eight-immortal table; there are also rectangular altar tables, which are mostly found in ancestral temples and temples, and are usually used to hold sacrificial items; there are also round tables, tables specially used for dinner and banquets, which are indispensable in every household; there are piano tables, chess tables, book painting tables, , etc., all of which are exquisite, natural and elegant, which can be seen as the craftsmanship reflected by the ancients in creating a table.
Although there are many types of tables, they are essentially different from each other. They are nothing more than a flat wooden board and a few legs. However, an interesting question arises. How many legs do you think the table has? Perhaps many readers will say four legs. Of course, this answer is correct, not right, because the most common tables are indeed four legs, but some craftsmen do not follow the ordinary path and have created some tables with three legs, eight legs, and even five legs.
For example, a five-legged table, the most famous of which is the teak flower pattern with a waist-length five-legged table, which is a national treasure collected in the Palace Museum. The table was made in the late Qing Dynasty. It is about 195.9 cm long, about 153.1 cm wide and about 79 cm high. It is brown-red overall. Although it has a century of history, it still looks very glamorous. On the surface of the table, hollow carving and relief are also used to carve exquisite floral patterns.
The most surprising thing is that the teak flower pattern has a trouser five-legged table is not a table with usually four legs, but five legs, with the fifth leg located in the center of the bottom of the table. Experts have shown that because the table is nearly 2 meters long and the table top material is heavy yellow rosewood, the four legs cannot bear the weight of the table, so a thicker table leg is placed in the middle, which can just stabilize the center of gravity of the table.
History records show that Empress Dowager Cixi loves teak flower patterns with a waist and five-legged table, and also places it in Jingfuge of Summer Palace . Jingfu Pavilion is a place where Empress Dowager Cixi enjoys the rain. Whenever summer rain comes, Empress Dowager Cixi would go to Jingfu Pavilion to enjoy the rain, and put various delicious snacks and tea on the table with a bunch of teak flowers and flowers. Eating snacks while enjoying the rain is simply "remembering the state affairs and only looking at the rain outside the window."
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, teak flower patterns with waist-bearing and five-legged tables were "discarded" in the Summer Palace, but in 1949, it made a great contribution. According to records, in January 1949, a negotiation on the liberation of Beiping City was held in the Summer Palace, and the two sides also reached an "Agreement on the Peaceful Resolution of the Peking Issues". Finally, there was no bloodshed in peace.If the editor doesn't say it, you may never know that they signed an agreement on the table with a trouser waist and five-legged squatting table. Because at that time, this table was the largest and cleanest in the Summer Palace, they sat around the table and started a three-month negotiation, which brought peace and prosperity today.
After the negotiations, the teak flower pattern with a brim waist and five-legged table was transferred to the Palace Museum for preservation, and it also has an nickname - the Table of Peace. Teak flower pattern with a waist and five legs, and has experienced many vicissitudes. It is not only a witness to the Qing Dynasty's downfall from the altar, but also a witness to the peaceful development of the country and the prosperity and civilization of the country. Therefore, it has become a national treasure and deserves its name.
Reference materials:
"The Great Collection of Cultural Relics and Treasures in the Palace Museum: Ming and Qing Furniture" Author: Zhu Jiaqing, Publisher: Shanghai Science and Technology Press
"Peaceful Liberation of Peking" Author: Huang Yibing, Publisher: Beijing People's Publishing House
Wen Xiucai, editor-in-chief of Wenlan Hairun Studio, this article is written: Special History Contributor: Liu Lijiang's
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