The animal head of Yuanmingyuan has always been a topic of concern to many people. These twelve animal heads are treasures of ancient culture and art in China, and their status is very high, not only because of their own value, but also because of the national memory behind them, which can never be erased. They are painful memories and an important carrier to warn future generations. A few days ago, the horse head of Yuanmingyuan finally returned. So far, seven animal heads have returned, so where are the five animal heads?

Horsehead regression

165438+1October 13, the donation ceremony of the horse head bronze statue of Yuanmingyuan was held in the National Museum. It is reported that the horse's head was donated by Stanley Ho, a Macao businessman, and will be collected by the management office of Yuanmingyuan in Beijing. With the return of the horse head to Yuanmingyuan, although the fate of the twelve animal heads living abroad is the same, seven of them have returned.

Yuanmingyuan was looted and burned by British and French allied forces in 1860, and the bronze statue of 12 animal head was lost overseas. Among them, the horse's head was auctioned overseas, and after many twists and turns, it was bought by Stanley Ho, a Macao businessman, for HK$ 6,965.438 billion.

Among the bronze statues of animal heads lost overseas, the mouse head and the rabbit head have always been together. According to Liu Yang, a member of the Academic Committee of China Yuanmingyuan Institute, in the 1960s, the head of the mouse rabbit belonged to a Spanish collector named Seth, and was later transferred to a French marquis, and then to Nicholas and Alexei, two cultural relics dealers.

In the 1980s, these two cultural relics dealers sold the rat heads and rabbit heads to fashion designers Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berger. Since then, two animal heads have been auctioned. At that time, Cai Mingchao, a businessman from China, didn't buy them and the lot was not finished. Later, two animal heads were bought by the Pino family.

20 13 On June 28th, Mr. Pi Nuo donated the bronze statue of the rat's head and rabbit's head in Yuanmingyuan, which was held in the National Museum. The Pino family donated two bronze statues of rat heads and rabbit heads to China.

Except for the mouse head and the rabbit head, the experiences of the other five animal heads are also very tortuous. Liu Yang introduced that around 1985, the monkey head and the tiger head were accidentally found in a magazine by a cultural relic dealer and bought two animal heads. At the same time, the seller also sold a cow's head to the cultural relics dealer.

1988, these three animal heads were auctioned at Sotheby's in new york. At the same time, the horse's head and pig's head were auctioned at Sotheby's in London. At that time, wealthy businessmen in Taiwan Province Province bought four statues except the pig's head, which were bought by a museum in the United States.

In 2000, China Poly Group Company spent HK$ 33 million to buy bronze statues of tiger head, bull head and monkey head at an auction in Hong Kong. These three bronze statues of the animal heads in Yuanmingyuan are now in the Poly Art Museum.

At the beginning of 2003, China's special fund for rescuing lost overseas cultural relics searched for the whereabouts of pig head in the United States. After efforts, American collectors agreed to transfer the pig's head to the fund. In September 2003, Stanley Ho donated more than 6 million yuan to the fund to buy back the bronze statue of pig's head. Later, it was donated to Poly Group. It is reported that this is also the only bronze statue of the animal head that returned to Yuanmingyuan in a public welfare way.

Up to now, seven animal heads, including rat head, rabbit head and horse head, have returned. In 20 18, a lot suspected of losing the dragon head appeared in a French auction and sold for 2.4 million euros; The whereabouts of the head of the snake, the head of the sheep, the head of the chicken and the head of the dog are still unknown.

The return time and collection of these seven bronze statues of animal heads are as follows.

In 2000, China Poly Group Company spent HK$ 33 million to buy bronze statues of tiger head, bull head and monkey head at an auction in Hong Kong. These three bronze statues of the animal heads in Yuanmingyuan are now in the Poly Art Museum.

At the beginning of 2003, China's special fund for rescuing lost overseas cultural relics searched for the whereabouts of pig head in the United States. After efforts, American collectors agreed to transfer the pig's head to the fund. In September 2003, Stanley Ho donated more than 6 million yuan to the fund to buy back the bronze statue of pig's head. Later, it was donated to Poly Group, and now it is collected by Poly Art Museum. It is reported that this is also the only bronze statue of the animal head that returned to Yuanmingyuan in a public welfare way.

In 2007, Stanley Ho spent HK$ 696.5438 million to buy the bronze statue of the horse head in Yuanmingyuan, and announced that it would be donated to the country. The bronze statue of the animal head will return to its original territory and be collected by the management office of Beijing Yuanmingyuan.

20 13 On April 26th, French Pino family announced in Beijing that they would donate the bronze mouse heads and rabbit heads of the Twelve Water Methods in Yuanmingyuan to China for free. Now it is collected by the National Museum of China.

The whereabouts of other bronze statues of snake head, chicken head, dog head, sheep head and faucet are unknown. On 20 18 12, a bronze statue of the dragon head of Yuanmingyuan appeared in the overseas auction, but its authenticity is still in doubt.

The animal head of Yuanmingyuan

The bronze statue of the animal head of the zodiac in Yuanmingyuan was originally a part of the fountain outside Haiyan Hall in Yuanmingyuan, and it was a bronze statue of the Qing Dynasty. 1860, the British and French allied forces invaded China and burned Yuanmingyuan, and the bronze statue of the animal head began to be lost overseas.

By June of 20 19,1/0/year, seven bronze statues of lost animal heads in Yuanmingyuan, such as ox head, monkey head, tiger head, pig head, rat head, rabbit head and horse head, have returned to the motherland in different ways. Among them, the bronze statue of pig head was purchased by Mr. Stanley Ho in 2003 and returned to China. 20 13 On April 26th, the French Pino family announced that they would donate rat heads and rabbit heads to China for free.

history

Haiyan Hall, a historic site in Yuanmingyuan, was built in 1759 (twenty-four years of Qianlong). The word "Haiyan" means "Heqing Haiyan, peaceful country and safe people". Wenyuan Huaying, Tang Zhengxi, and Wang Cifu in Japan and China: "When he was young, Qing Haiyan" River, Yellow River; Yan, calm down. "Heqing Haiyan" is also called "Haiyan Heqing", which means that the Yellow River is clear and the sea is calm. This phrase is used to describe world peace and has auspicious meaning of praising world peace. The name "Haiyan Hall", a practical ornamental building in Yuanmingyuan, a royal garden in China, also comes from this. The essence of this building complex, the bronze statue of the zodiac, is famous for telling the time in water.

The animal head was designed by Lang Shining, a Jesuit priest in China. He used the animal head to represent 24 hours a day, and each bronze statue took turns spraying water, which was a spectacle. 1860, 12 The animal heads of the Zodiac were plundered by the British and French allied forces and scattered all over the country. Among them, the bronze heads of cattle, monkeys, tigers and pigs have returned to China and are collected in Poly Art Museum. The bronze horse head was purchased by Stanley Ho, a Macao businessman, in 2007 and donated to the country. The mouse head and rabbit head were donated to China by the French Pino family for free and entered the Tibet National Expo; As of May 20 13, according to reliable information, Longshou was collected from Taiwan Province Province; The whereabouts of the head of the snake, the head of the chicken, the head of the dog and the head of the sheep are unknown.

1860, the British and French allied forces set fire to Yuanmingyuan, and the bronze statue of the zodiac in Yuanmingyuan was lost overseas, which became a microcosm of the loss of cultural relics in China. In the hundred years after the Opium War, as many as one million pieces of China cultural relics were lost overseas due to war, looting and carving. Among all the famous museums abroad, China's collection exceeds 6,543,800+0.6 million, including other folk collections of China's cultural relics. The total number of all the cultural relics scattered overseas in China exceeds 6,543,800+0.7 million, which exceeds the collections of local museums and folk collections in China.