According to Guo Pu's annotation in Jin Dynasty, "Linli" here means gluttony. There is a similar record in the Strange Book of the West: "Gluttony, animal name, body like an ox, human face, eyes under the armpit, cannibalism." Yi Shu Jing said that "gluttony" refers to Sanmiao people in southwest China, and chen more, a close friend, further said that "gluttony" is Chiyou, while Mr. Wang's query on bronze decoration is considered as Shennong. In the later period, there was a legend among the people that a dragon gave birth to nine children. Lu Rong and Yang Shen in Ming Dynasty listed gluttony as one of the nine sons of the dragon, which is already a kind of attachment. In Lu Rong's Miscellaneous Notes on the Garden, it is recorded that gluttony "is good for water, so the bridge is built", while in Yang Shen's Collection of Mountaineering Temples, it is recorded that gluttony is good for food, so it is built on the tripod.
The animal face decoration of Shang and Zhou bronzes reflected the worship of natural gods at that time, so it had a mysterious and solemn atmosphere. However, there are different opinions about what these mysterious decorative patterns represent. Bronze ware is the embodiment of the ancestors' consciousness of "respecting god" in Yin Shang Dynasty, while the Zhou Dynasty developed into "respecting heaven and legalizing ancestors", forming a trinity of religion, political power and clan power. Most scholars believe that the rulers of Shang and Zhou dynasties used the "ferocious terror" of bronze decorations to express the "mysterious majesty" of kingship, so as to express their possession of political power, status and wealth, which is daunting. Slave owners put all their majesty, will, glory, fantasy and hope on these horrible and ferocious ornamentation. Mr. Zhang Guangzhi also thinks that "bronze is politics and power", but he thinks that these animal designs are not for intimidation, but for communication with God. Due to the low level of productive forces in primitive society, many unexplained phenomena are attributed to the power of God. People are full of awe of the gods, begging for them, pleasing them, and dominating things with the help of divine power. Therefore, the status of wizards who can communicate with the gods is very high, and the wizard class has become the original imperial ruling class. Sacrifice is the privilege of wizards, and it is also the central link to communicate between man and god and sanctify human order. Wizards communicate with gods with animals on bronzes, so these strange animal patterns also represent mystery and power. According to the textual research of gentle Mr. Chen Gong Zhang Changshou, the most primitive form of faceless animal face pattern is just a pair of round bubble-shaped chest nails to show the eyes of animal face, which can be traced back to Erlitou culture at the earliest, and then gradually added with nose, horn, ears and eyebrows to become an animal face with complete organs. The order is the main body of the animal face pattern, because the animal face pattern generally has only eyes, which should have originated from the prehistoric eye worship. There are pairs of eye patterns on prehistoric painted pottery, and there are also pairs of eye patterns on jade. In the late Neolithic period, there appeared the standard animal face pattern and the simplified animal face pattern, namely the eye pattern. According to the textual research of Mr. Tang Huisheng, the god in shamanism is also the sun god, and the sun god is often painted as an eye, because in many ancient myths, the sun is called the "eye of heaven". For example, the sun god of the Polo Sect, also known as "the eye of the sky" or "the eye of the world". Scholars who hold this view believe that the traditional gluttonous pattern is not only a kind of animal face pattern, but also belongs to god or sun god. The emphasis on eyes in gluttonous patterns is a description of their characteristics as the divine light of the sun. [3]
This kind of gluttonous decorative pattern first appeared on the jade articles of Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River 5,000 years ago, but it was more common on bronzes, especially on Ding, and as far away as Erlitou Xia culture.
However, the name "gluttonous pattern" did not exist in ancient times, but was named by Song people when epigraphy rose. The most perfect gluttonous mask is 2 1.0 cm high, which is now in the Seattle Library. This decoration usually takes the bridge of the nose as the center line and is symmetrically arranged on both sides.
What exactly does gluttony mean? There have been different opinions, and there is no conclusion so far. There are many types of gluttonous patterns in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, some of which are like dragons, tigers, cows, deer and mandrills. Others are birds, phoenixes and people. Among all the decorative patterns, the gluttonous pattern is the most widely recognized tiger shape.
In ancient times, the tiger was also a very important god beast. Later, the figure of a wizard riding a tiger appeared in the cultural relics.
In the long cultural history of China, there was a long stage of dragon and tiger worship before the worship of "Dragon and Phoenix". From the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, Long Hudou's pattern modeling was very popular, among which the Long Hudou figure unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb was the most exquisite and extraordinary. The ancients thought that the tiger was a yang beast, "the cloud follows the dragon and the wind follows the tiger." Fighting between dragons and tigers means intercourse between yin and yang. In the Han Dynasty, Black Dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu respectively represented the four astronomical officials in the Middle East, the West, the South and the North. At least, in the early history of China, the status of the tiger was not lower than that of the dragon. However, the description of the magical power of the tiger in ancient books is obviously difficult to compare with the prominent position of gluttony in bronze wares.
The real name and prototype of the beast referred to in the animal face pattern have long been buried in an era that cannot be reproduced. Later generations were named gluttonous because of their ferocious, mysterious and horrible faces, and some of them still had heads in their mouths. Gourmets were originally used in Zuo Zhuan to describe heartless people who are greedy for money and food. Modern scholars point out that it is far-fetched to name the animal tattoo as a gluttonous person, which goes against the social and cultural situation in Shang and Zhou Dynasties.