The Cicada Crown Buddha Statue is known as the "Oriental Venus". Do you know its cultural relic research value and collection history?

In March 1976, a villager in Zhangguan Village, Chenhu Town, Boxing County, Shandong Province, dug up some Buddha statues while digging the foundation of his homestead. The villagers did not take it seriously, as they had dug up many before, so Still discarded as rubble. The stones were picked up by nearby residents and used as homestead stones, pig pen doors, or as bases for diesel engines. At that time, Li Shaonan, the director of the Cultural Relics Institute, learned that the villagers had discarded many patterned stones, so he came down to check. When he saw these Buddha statues, he realized that they were cultural relics with important historical value.

After research and exploration by the Boxing County Cultural Relics Department, it was determined that these Buddha statues are thousands of years old and can be traced back to the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China. The foundation dug by the villagers belongs to the ruins of the ancient Longhua Temple. Li Shaonan and his staff spent three years retrieving hundreds of incomplete stones. After bonding and repairing, they finally recovered 73 incomplete objects such as Buddha statues.

Among the many Buddha statues, one of the Cicada-Crown Bodhisattva statues is the most precious. When it was discovered, only one fragment of stone remained. Later, Li Shaonan found three fragments of stones in the homes of three villagers, and finally spliced ??them together into A relatively complete Bodhisattva statue is the famous Cicada Crown Bodhisattva, known as the "Cicada Crown Goddess" and "Oriental Venus".

(Cicada-Crowned Buddha Statue)

However, the collection history of this "Oriental Venus" is full of twists and turns.

From 1976 to 1983, the Boxing County Cultural Relics Institute sorted out these Buddhist statues, and the Cicada Crown Bodhisattva statue was also preserved in the Cultural Relics Institute. The exquisite craftsmanship of the Cicada-Crown Bodhisattva statue attracted many scholars from the United States and Japan to study it. However, in July 1994, the staff discovered that the Cicada-Crown Bodhisattva statue had disappeared. The theft of the national treasure was not a trivial matter. The staff immediately reported it and requested the state They searched for his whereabouts, but after several years of investigation, there was no news.

In December 1999, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage received a mysterious letter about the Buddha statue. In 2000, the New York Times reported on the Cicada-Crown Bodhisattva statue. Experts realized that this might be the Cicada-Crown Bodhisattva statue that was lost in Shandong cultural relics, so they started investigating and found that the Buddha statue was stolen and then circulated in the British cultural relics market. It was sold to the British cultural relics market in 1995. Japan's Miho Museum spent a huge sum of money to buy it.

This made the return of the national treasure more difficult. After many difficult negotiations, China and Japan finally reached an agreement in 2001: Japan would donate the Cicada Crown Bodhisattva statue to China free of charge, on the condition that it would be returned to China every five years thereafter. In 2016, the Cicada Crown Bodhisattva statue must be exhibited at the Japan Art Museum once.

In 2008, the Cicada Crowned Bodhisattva statue, which had been wandering for 14 years, finally returned to the embrace of the motherland and was collected in the Shandong Museum.

(Tourists visiting the Buddha statue)

Let’s take a look at this "Oriental Venus" - the Cicada Crown Bodhisattva.

The Cicada Crown Bodhisattva has been known as the "Oriental Venus" since it was unearthed. It is 120.5 cm high and the diameter of the circular disc behind the Bodhisattva is 54 cm. Experts say this is a typical Eastern Wei Dynasty statue. period piece.

Looking at it as a whole, the entire Bodhisattva statue gives people a light, realistic, smooth and elegant feeling. The statue of the Bodhisattva has a slender body, wearing a bare-chested upper body, a silk shawl covering the shoulders, and a silk belt knotted at the chest. The lower body is wearing a long skirt with dense pleats at the skirt. The lines and pleats of the clothes are vaguely visible, dense but not thick.

The Bodhisattva is smiling, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and his face is amiable.

The Bodhisattva is extremely ornately decorated, with a circular ornament on each shoulder and a double necklace with pearls hanging on his chest. The hands of the Bodhisattva are crossed in front of the abdomen, and the intersection is decorated with a huge gem. The shape is exquisitely carved, and the lotus backlight behind the head is gorgeous and elegant.

The crown of the Bodhisattva statue is carved with an extremely rare cicada pattern, which is extremely precious among all Buddha statues found in the world so far. Because of the cicada pattern, this stone statue is known as the "Cicada Crown Goddess" and the "Cicada Crown Bodhisattva Statue".

(Cicada Crown Buddha Statue)

Let’s talk about “Cicada Crown”~~~

Cicada Crown, a symbol of power and dignity in ancient times, originated from A crown worn by attendants in the Han Dynasty. The aide-de-camp is always with the emperor and serves as the emperor's advisor. He can enter and leave the palace freely. His status is naturally very high. Sometimes his power is as powerful as that of the prime minister. He can discuss politics with the courtiers on behalf of the emperor.

Also, the cicada is a kind of spiritual creature in nature. It lives underground when it is young, emerges from the earth and sheds its shell when it grows up, and then flies up the tree and sings loudly. The cicada repeats itself after death, symbolizing the resurrection and cycle of life. Therefore, jade cicadas were often used as burial objects in ancient burials to express people's hope for life.

Therefore, the ancients used cicada crowns to decorate Bodhisattva statues, which had special significance, symbolizing incomparable nobility and making people look up to and worship them.

Now when we look at this "Cicada Crowned Bodhisattva Statue" again, our feelings are the same. What do you think? (The pictures in this article are from the Internet and will be deleted if they are infringing)