Circulation process of the bronze dragon head of the animal head of the zodiac in Yuanmingyuan 12 Xiyanglou

The bronze statue of the animal head of the 12 Zodiac in Haiyan Hall, Xiyang Building, Yuanmingyuan was built in the 24th year of Qianlong, namely 1759.

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: dragon, ox, horse, tiger, mouse, rabbit and pig.

However, in the process of transporting them back to France, the heads of mice, rabbits and pigs were stolen and lost.

Only the dragon head, the cow head, the horse head and the tiger head were brought back to France, and Xie Manlu took photos of them respectively.

After many years, France has nothing to do with the information of the dragon head and the other three animal heads.

In March 2009, Shenzhen Satellite TV reported that Wang Du, a collector in Taiwan Province Province, China, said in an interview,

The dragon head was bought by a collector in Taiwan Province province after 1988, which was worth NT$ 45 million at that time.

The collector originally intended to let the dragon head appear in the auction, but in view of the storm that the mouse head and the rabbit head encountered, it is estimated that the whereabouts of the animal head in Yuanmingyuan are unknown and will not appear in a short time.

However, an authoritative expert in Yuanmingyuan thinks this report is not credible. Wang Du said that the dragon head was in the hands of collectors in Taiwan Province Province, and it was just a joke between friends, which was magnified by hype and became sensational news.

2: 30pm French time181217,

In a small French auction company Tessier &; At the Asian antique art auction held in Sallu,

A dragon head of the Chinese zodiac from China was finally finalized at a price of 2.4 million euros. The buyer is from China, but he doesn't want to reveal his identity.

The batch number of this faucet is 47, 40 cm high and 45 cm long.

According to the auction house, the dragon head is the dowry of Xie Manlu's granddaughter and then passed on to future generations.

Later generations didn't know that the dragon head came from Yuanmingyuan until this commissioned auction.

The authoritative experts of Yuanmingyuan believe that this lot should be the dragon head of Yuanmingyuan lost overseas.

This auction is also regarded as the dragon head's return to the descendants of the dragon. I hope that one day, the dragon head can return to his home country and the Yuanmingyuan.