East-West Question丨Ren Xinlai: How can the colored glaze of the underground palace of Famen Temple bear witness to the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations?

　　China News Service, Xi'an, April 5th: How can the colored glaze of the underground palace of Famen Temple bear witness to the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations?

　　——Exclusive interview with Ren Xinlai, former director and research librarian of Famen Temple Museum

　　China News Service reporter Alina

　　In 1987, the underground palace of the Tang Pagoda of Famen Temple, which had been sealed for 1,113 years, was opened. Along with the four finger relics of Sakyamuni Buddha, more than 2,000 Tang Dynasty palace artifacts were unearthed, including 20 pieces of beautiful glassware. . This batch of glassware includes glass bottles produced in Eastern Rome and Islamic glass plates. Exotic-style glassware came to China along the Silk Road and was enshrined in Buddhist temples by the Tang royal family, witnessing the prosperous exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations thousands of years ago.

　　Why were precious cultural relics including glassware unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple? How do these glassware show the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations? Recently, Ren Xinlai, the former director and research librarian of the Famen Temple Museum, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" to answer this question.

The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

China News Service reporter: What was the importance of Famen Temple in the Tang Dynasty? Why were so many precious palace artifacts unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple?

Ren Xinlai:

Famen Temple was built in the Huanling period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 1,700 years. It is world-famous because it enshrines the relics of Sakyamuni. It was called "Ashoka Temple" at that time. It was renamed "Chengshi Dojo" during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty and "Famen Temple" during the reign of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty. Since Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, issued an order to make offerings to Buddha's bones, it has gradually become a custom "once every thirty years", with the intention of praying for "good harvests and an end to wars". Afterwards, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty carried out their will and enshrined the Buddha in succession. Eight emperors, including Gaozong, Empress Wu, Zhongzong, Suzong, Dezong, Xianzong, Yizong and Xizong, welcomed the Buddha's bones from Famen Temple to the capital six times. Supported by the imperial palaces of Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang, Famen Temple is known as a royal temple. When the relics were returned, a large number of royal treasures were sent to the underground palace along with the Buddha's finger relics.

February 8, 2016 is the first day of the first lunar month of the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese lunar calendar. People visited Famen Temple in Baoji, Shaanxi Province and paid homage to the rare treasure Buddha finger relic. Photo by Zhong Xin

　　In 874 AD, after the Tang Dynasty completed its last offering, the Buddha's finger relics were sealed into the underground palace together with thousands of rare treasures of the Tang royal family.

　　In 1987, the only remaining four Buddha finger relics in the world, 121 sets of gold and silverware enshrined by the Tang Dynasty royal family, 14 pieces of secret-color porcelain discovered for the first time, and hundreds of pieces of silk clothing were unearthed from the Tang Pagoda Underground Palace of Famen Temple. There are 20 pieces of beautiful glassware. This discovery is not only a major archaeological discovery in the 20th century, but also one of the top 100 archaeological discoveries in China in a century.

Reporter from China News Service: What is the important value of the colored glaze unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple?

Ren Xinlai:

Liuli is the name for glass in ancient China. Glass is a foreign word. In ancient times, it was also called "Zhuan Lin", "Liu Lin", "Liu Li", "Lu Li", "Ruli", etc. Its main raw material is quartz sand, which is amorphous inorganic matter that is added with fluxes such as natural soda ash, plant ash, and lead, and is melted and reshaped at high temperatures. There are two major systems of ancient glass, one is the soda-lime glass system, and the other is the lead-barium glass system. The West, especially the Mediterranean region, has more natural soda ash. The glass they produce is soda-lime glass, while China lacks natural soda ash. , mostly using lead as a co-solvent, and the glass produced is mostly lead-barium glass.

Poppy yellow glazed glass plate. Photo provided by interviewee

　　Among the 20 pieces of glassware unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple, there are Eastern Roman glassware from the east coast of the Mediterranean, a large number of Islamic glassware from the Arab Empire, and a set of glassware from China, all of which are sodium Calcium glass systems.

　　According to research, these colored glaze ware were introduced to China through the Maritime Silk Road and the Overland Silk Road. This batch of artifacts is complete in shape, beautiful in shape, well-made, and has a clear era. It is a major discovery in glass archeology in China and even the world.

　　A light yellow glass vase with a plate mouth and a narrow neck was unearthed in the underground palace of Famen Temple. It is 21 cm high and 16 cm in diameter. It is molded by blow molding. A glass thread of the same color is pasted on the shoulder of the bottle. There are four rows of decorations on the abdomen. The first row is 8 dark blue round cake-shaped decorations, the second row is 6 irregular five-pointed star decorations, and the third row is 6 lotus bud-shaped round cake-shaped decorations near the bottom. The fourth row is decorated with 6 dark blue drop-shaped decorations, which belong to the thermal processing process of glass. There are residual characters of "Zhen" and "Lian" in the ink calligraphy inside, which should be original to the temple and used to hold the relics.

Light yellow glass bottle with narrow neck. Photo provided by interviewee

　　The glass blowing process was invented by the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC. The invention of the blowing method brought revolutionary changes to glass production, simplifying the production process and reducing production costs, making glassware no longer a luxury product but a Everyday items that ordinary people can use. Both filigree and decals are common thermal processing decorative techniques for Roman glass. The Eastern Roman Empire was proficient in this craft, and especially liked to wrap glass silk or glass flowers on glass vessels as decoration. It is speculated that this glazed vase was produced in Eastern Rome from the 6th to 7th century. It is also the earliest one from the Underground Palace glazed ware era.

　　Thirteen blue glazed plates, three straight glazed cups, and a blue narrow-necked glazed bottle were also unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple. These are all Islamic glazed ware.

　　Among them, the four-petal blue glazed plate has a diameter of 20 cm and a height of 2.3 cm, and is blown into shape. The outer bottom center of the plate is raised and there are traces of iron bar processing. The center of the plate is a square frame. Inside the square frame is a small oblique square frame with alternating virtual and real shapes. Four arch-shaped cusps are engraved on the outside of the square frame, forming four "mihrab" patterns with the central square. Inside the four cusps, each is engraved with a five-flower flower. The petals have maple leaf patterns, and the cusps are also decorated with plant patterns.

Four-petal patterned blue glazed plate. Photo provided by interviewee

　　Engraving and engraving are both cold processing decorative techniques for glass, and are the most popular processing techniques for Islamic glass. "Mihrab" is the Arabic transliteration, meaning "niche" or "shrine". The blue glass plate is smooth and clean, with gorgeous and beautiful patterns, well-made and rich in connotation. It is a representative work of Islamic glassware.

　　The main characteristics of Islamic ornamentation are geometric patterns, plant patterns and patterns composed of Arabic characters developed in the later period. The composition of Islamic patterns is very rigorous, with aesthetic characteristics of abstraction, regularity, balance, symmetry, and denseness, and does not like to leave blank spaces.

　　The six carved glass plates unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple are all themed with plant patterns and geometric patterns, but each plate has a different pattern. Plant patterns include maple leaves, grapes, flowers, branches, etc.; geometric patterns include square, circle, diamond, cross, triangle, rope, etc. Plant patterns and geometric patterns are organically integrated, coupled with fine The parallel diagonal lines are used as shading to form a complex pattern and fill the entire bottom of the plate. This is the most striking feature of Islamic glazed ware.

The eight-petal flower is painted on a gold-blue glass plate. Photo provided by interviewee

Eight-petal flower blue glass plate. Photo provided by interviewee

　　In addition, a set of pale yellow glazed tea bowls and saucers were also unearthed, which were mold-blown. The glazed tea bowl is 4.9 cm high, 12.5 cm in diameter, light yellow-green, with a trumpet-shaped mouth and a small flat bottom. The glazed tea saucer is 3.6 centimeters high, 13.7 centimeters in diameter, has a flat bottom and a deep base, with a low circle foot. It can be seen from the shape of the utensil that this is a typical traditional Chinese tea utensil shape. However, through scientific testing, the glass tea bowl and saucer are typical soda-lime glass, which is very consistent with the composition of other Islamic glass ware unearthed from the Famen Temple Underground Palace. It also belongs to the plant gray soda-lime glass, which is similar to the high-lead glass and soda-lime glass produced in China. Big difference.

Light yellow glazed tea bowl and saucer. Photo provided by interviewee

Reporter from China News Service: What are the characteristics of the glassware unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple?

Ren Xinlai:

In 2011, the Famen Temple Museum cooperated with the Scientific and Technological Archeology Center of the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct non-destructive testing for the first time on 20 pieces of glassware unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple. All glassware, including glass tea bowls and saucers, have the characteristics of Western soda-lime glass, but the content of potassium oxide and magnesium oxide is very close to the composition of Islamic glassware unearthed in the Neshapur area, and is similar to the soda-lime soda-lime glassware from the Mediterranean coast. The glass is obviously different and is a typical Islamic plant gray soda-lime glass.

　　The shape, decoration, craftsmanship and chemical composition of the Islamic glassware unearthed from Famen Temple can mostly be found in the products unearthed from Neshapur, Iran. Through research, it can be speculated that this batch of Islamic glassware may have come from Neshapur. Import a batch of tribute or goods from China. Neshapur was one of the important glass manufacturing centers of the Abbasid dynasty during the power of the Arab Empire in the 9th century. It was also a commercial center for east-west trade. Neshapur's glassware was spread to other countries. At the same time, Neshapur also had unearthed glassware. bought a lot of Chinese porcelain.

At the "Historical Encounters - Exchanges of Ancient Civilizations between China and West Asia" and "Glorious Persia - The Essence of Iranian Cultural Relics" exhibitions at the Meridian Gate Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum in Beijing, media reporters photographed the blue Islamic mihrab pattern on display Colored glass plate. Photo by Tian Yuhao

　　During the Tang Dynasty, the Arabian maritime trade was very developed. Not only finished glassware was shipped abroad, but also some glass raw materials were shipped abroad. Some Western glass raw materials were also found in Yangzhou, China.

　　In the 5th century AD, glass blowing technology was introduced to China. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Chinese glass craftsmen had mastered this technology and produced glass products with Chinese characteristics. It can be inferred that the glazed tea bowl and saucer in the shape of traditional Chinese tea vessels unearthed from Famen Temple should be made in China by Chinese craftsmen who learned Western glass making techniques and used Western glass materials. They are glass tea utensils with traditional Chinese characteristics. The crystallization of trade and cultural exchanges between the East and the West in ancient times.

Reporter from China News Service: How do the glassware unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple show the cultural exchange between the East and the West?

Ren Xinlai:

The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of ancient Chinese society, with a vast territory, strong national power, developed economy, prosperous culture, an open and inclusive society, and a very smooth Silk Road, which created unprecedented prosperity in trade and cultural exchanges between the East and the West.

On April 28, 2023, at the special exhibition "The Glorious Ages - The Amazing Treasures of the Tang Dynasty Underground Palace" held by the Yunnan Provincial Museum, the audience dressed in ancient costumes watched the gilt figure painting Yinxiang Baozi on display. The exhibit was 1987 It was unearthed from the Pagoda Palace of Famen Temple in 1999 and is now in the Famen Temple Museum. Photo by Liu Ranyang

　　At that time, the Tang Dynasty established friendly relations and close exchanges with more than 70 countries in the world, and Islam, Christianity, and Persian Zoroastrianism were successively introduced to China. During the Tang Dynasty, there were many foreigners doing business and working in China. According to historical records, envoys from the Dashi (Arab Empire) in the Tang Dynasty visited China more than 30 times. Chinese silk, porcelain, tea, etc. were shipped abroad, while Western spices, gems, glass, etc. were also shipped to China and were widely welcomed by the locals.

　　Civilizations are colorful due to exchanges, and civilizations are enriched due to mutual learning. The glaze ware unearthed from Famen Temple not only witnessed the cultural exchanges and trade between the East and the West along the ancient Silk Road, but also reflected the exchanges and mutual learning, innovation and development between different cultures, civilizations and nationalities. (over)

Interviewee profile:

　　Ren Xinlai, former director and research librarian of Famen Temple Museum. He has published monographs such as "Qianling Mausoleum and Famen Temple", "Tea Set Culture of the Tang Palace", "Silk Road Story - Famen Temple Museum", and dozens of papers. He is a member of the Chinese Museum Association, a member of the Tang History Society of China, and a professional master's tutor at the School of Cultural Heritage of Northwest University.