The designer is Lang Shining, an Italian missionary and court painter in Milan. The supervisor is French missionary Michel Benoit; The maker is a court craftsman.
It is the largest garden landscape in Xiyanglou Scenic Area. Every noon, the heads of 12 Zodiac animals spray water at the same time, which is spectacular.
Regrettably, Michel BeNeust, who supervised the Water Law, passed away in 10 (1774).
The mechanical device "dragon tail car" for supplying water to the fountain is broken, and no one has come to repair it.
If the emperor wants to see the animal head spray water again, he can only make an appointment in advance for the little eunuch to carry the water upstairs before the emperor arrives.
When the emperor came, he opened the floodgates and released water. When the emperor left, there was no water in the fountain.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the animal head of 12 was simply damaged to the point where it could not be sprayed with water.
However, the animal head of 12 is different from the animal head of 12.
Xianfeng's mother was interested and ordered these things to be removed and stored in the national treasury.
1860 18 June 18, the British forces of Britain and France set fire to Yuanmingyuan, and 12 the animal head of the Chinese zodiac disappeared.
Until about 1882, French plenipotentiary diplomat in Qing dynasty,
His Chinese name is Xie Manlu, and he bought some cultural relics from Haiyan Hall.
There are seven animal heads: horse, tiger, mouse, rabbit, dragon, cow and pig.
However, in the process of transporting them back to France, the heads of mice, rabbits and pigs were stolen and lost.
Only four animal heads, namely, the horse head, the tiger head, the bull head and the dragon head, were brought back to France, and Xie Manlu took pictures of them respectively.
After many years, there is no news of the horse head and three other animal heads in France.
Until 1985, Ma Shou appeared in the home of a retired policeman in Palm Springs, Southern California, on the west coast of the United States.
The policeman named william blake enthusiastically helped a tourist find his lost wallet.
In order to promote good deeds and local tourism, the local tourism bureau took a group photo for them and published it in a travel magazine.
An antique dealer named Charles leafed through this magazine on the plane.
He found a strange thing in the lower right corner of the photo, that is, the horse's head in Haiyan Hall 12 animal head in Yuanmingyuan.
As a result, the cultural relic merchant immediately turned to the retired policeman in the photo and asked about the animal head.
At this time, an amazing discovery was made. The retired policeman has not only a horse's head, but also a cow's head and a tiger's head.
Horses and tigers are regarded as ordinary gardening decorations and put in the garden.
Coincidentally, the two animal heads were placed next to the pool in the back garden, which was also used to spit water.
The cow's head was put in the bathroom as a hanger.
In order to get these three animal heads, Charles, a merchant of cultural relics, lied that his father was seriously ill, hoping to buy back an oriental object and fulfill his father's wish.
In the end, I bought three animal heads, horse, tiger and cow, at an ultra-low price of 1500 each.
There is no relevant information about how these three animal heads flowed from France in Europe to North America.
Four years later, 1989, Ma Shou appeared at Sotheby's auction in London.
Cai Chenyang, an entrepreneur from Taiwan Province Province, paid 1.8 1.5 million pounds, or about $250,000 (about 1.737 million RMB) to shoot the head of a horse.
Later, during the global financial crisis, Cai Chenyang sold it to other bosses in Taiwan Province Province in order to keep the company running.
The news of Matou reappeared in August 2007.
When National Cultural Heritage Administration learned that Sotheby's Hong Kong Limited was going to auction the bronze statue of the horse's head in Yuanmingyuan, he immediately informed the relevant person in charge of the company.
The bronze statue of the horse's head in Yuanmingyuan is a precious cultural relic looted in modern China. Not in favor of public auction, I hope to return it in an appropriate way.
At the beginning of September, 2007, Sotheby's auction company announced that it would auction the bronze horse head in the name of "Eight-Nation Alliance-Yuanmingyuan relic".
In order to ensure Ma Shou's return to the motherland, Dr. Stanley Ho, a patriotic entrepreneur from Macao and consultant of national treasure project, delivered a speech on September 20, 2007.
That is, before the auction was held, the bronze statue of Ma Shou was purchased for HK$ 6,965,438+million (about RMB 66 million) and it was announced that it would be donated to the country.
Since then, the horse has been stored in the lobby of the New Portuguese Hotel in Macau until it was officially given to the management office of Beijing Yuanmingyuan in 20 19.
2019165438+10, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the 20th anniversary of the return of Macao,
With the active communication and coordination of National Cultural Heritage Administration, Mr. Stanley Ho decided to formally donate the bronze statue of Matou in Yuanmingyuan to National Cultural Heritage Administration.
2019165438+1October 13. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and National Cultural Heritage Administration held a donation ceremony for the bronze statue of the horse head of Yuanmingyuan in China National Museum.
Luo Shugang, then Minister of Culture and Tourism, and Mr. Stanley Ho unveiled the bronze statue of Matou in Yuanmingyuan on behalf of Ms. He Chaoqiong.
On June 5438+February 1 day, 2020, the people's governments of National Cultural Heritage Administration and Beijing held a ceremony to transfer the bronze statue of the horse's head in Yuanmingyuan Zhengjue Temple.
Ma Shou became the only animal head in Haiyan Hall to return to Yuanmingyuan.
Horsehead is the most unique animal head among the twelve zodiac animals in Haiyan Hall, representing noon.
Therefore, when the horse's head sprays water, all animals will spray water together.
Among the animal heads returning to China, the most expensive is the horse's head.
The reason why the horse's head is so expensive is that it is more exquisite than the previous animal head.
Even the texture on the horse's head is very realistic, especially the texture of horse mane, which is not found on other animals' heads.
The cloud-like shape and curly hair on the horse's head indicate that this is a typical European prince charming.
Through X-ray analysis, the horse's head is cast in one piece, and experts are amazed at this ingenious forging process.
The horse's head looks like the leader of Haiyan Tang 12 Zodiac. The leader went home. I hope other animal heads lost overseas will report back to China as soon as possible.