" Half smile, half angry"
At that time, the clock was just past 9 am, when the Vietnamese tourist group was standing in front of the Sanxingdui Museum.
The Sanxingdui archaeological site is located in Sanxingdui Town, Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, China. The brief information provided by the Sichuan Provincial Foreign Affairs Office reveals some of the "best" features of this 4,500 - 2,800 BC site: the widest distribution, the richest cultural connotation... One day in early spring 1929, a farmer went to the field and accidentally discovered a pile of exquisite and beautiful jade objects, and from then on the Sanxingdui civilization of ancient Shu was awakened. But it took another 60 years, when more than 1,000 rare artifacts were discovered, for the world of antiques to truly be shaken by the exquisite and mysterious artifacts.
Bronze masks on display at the Sanxingdui Site Museum, China
PHOTO: HUA XUYEN HUYNH
"This is the largest bronze mask, so… it cannot be worn on the face. This medium-sized mask can be worn during ceremonies," the female museum guide led visitors through the mask display area. It was a bit magical standing in the middle of a space with bronze masks "arranged" in rows. Researchers realized that the Sanxingdui mask depicted a face completely different from that of contemporary people. Big eyes, a flat and wide mouth, thick eyebrows, and even no chin. What that "half-smiling, half-angry" face, without any emotion, represented, depicted by whom, and used for what purpose… still has no final answer.
A particularly rare gold mask at the Sanxingdui Site Museum, China
PHOTO: HUA XUYEN HUYNH
Le Mi Binh, a female tourist from Da Nang City, was initially attracted by the three gold masks because of their sophistication and rarity. But then the strangeness of the bronze masks "clung" to her. "There is no resemblance to a human face. The majority of people also suspect that this is the shape of an alien," she said.
The sources that Ms. Le Mi Binh accessed also led to speculation about a mysterious civilization that had never been recorded in history books. Many experts were confused by the bronze masks, especially the largest mask excavated in 1986, which was very deformed: 138 cm wide, 66 cm high, with 2 cylinders "plugged" into the eyes that protruded 16 cm. Records about Cancong, or Tam Tung, the first king of the ancient Shu kingdom, only helped to "relieve" part of the confusion. According to legend, this mythical king taught people to grow rice and had special eyesight. Therefore, experts speculate that this largest bronze mask was probably modeled after Tam Tung to praise him.
Leaving no records in ancient Chinese books, the Sanxingdui civilization seemed to have "fallen from the sky and suddenly disappeared without a trace", and even bore surprising similarities to the ancient Egyptian and Mayan civilizations. Until now, data on technology and especially the facial features shown on masks still leave a big question hanging: Is it a smile or some other expression?
"CEREMONIAL MASK" SUSPICION
There is another question mark also "left behind" the statue of Bodhisattva Tara, a national treasure ranked 19th in the list of 237 national treasures announced by the Vietnam Department of Cultural Heritage, currently kept at the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture.
Bronze statue of Bodhisattva Tara kept at the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture
The "brief history" of this treasure is quite interesting. In 1978, the statue was accidentally discovered by local people in the Dong Duong Buddhist Monastery area (Quang Nam); in 1979, it was first published in the Archaeology magazine. In 1981, it was brought to the Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum and preserved in a state where the two hand-held dharma instruments, including the lotus flower and the snail, were broken. In 1984 and 2005, researcher Jean Boisselier identified it as Tara, and researcher Trian Nguyen identified it as Laksmindra-Lokesvara.
In 2019, the local government handed over 2 sacred objects to Quang Nam Museum. In 2023, the 2 sacred objects will be restored to Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum...
Previous studies and official descriptions in heritage records agree that the statue has a broad face, short chin, narrow and flat forehead, thick intersecting eyebrows, a wide mouth, thick lips with sharp lip rims, hair braided into many small braids in a bun and divided into two layers. This 9th century statue deserves to be a representative artifact of the Dong Duong style - an important artifact of ancient Champa sculpture and typical of Bodhisattva worship at the largest Buddhist temple of the Champa kingdom...
Some later researches by Associate Professor, Dr. Ngo Van Doanh (National Cultural Heritage Council), researcher Tran Ky Trung... also only focused on mentioning the title of Bodhisattva. "Flash" doubts were raised when discussing the strangeness in the appearance and facial features of Bodhisattva Tara. "Is Tara Dong Duong wearing a ritual mask?", architect Le Tri Cong, a Cham researcher in Da Nang, asked.
Having had doubts before, when he had the opportunity to directly contact the treasures during the event of restoring the two treasures to the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, Mr. Le Tri Cong became even more suspicious. According to him, Champa sculptures often depict goddesses and Bodhisattvas, always soft, in accordance with anthropology and anthropometry. Particularly with the Tara Dong Duong statue, the part from the neck down shows a plump, soft, feminine body like a real person...; but the head is stylized, angular, dramatic: high square forehead, high nose, slightly hooked, unusually large nostrils, sharp tip of the nose, wide open eyes looking straight ahead (even glaring), with a border at the neck...
Referring to contemporary Tara sculptures, Mr. Le Tri Cong believes that Tara Dong Duong has an unusual face. "From the above factors, we conclude that Tara Dong Duong wears a ritual mask, which has a deterrent effect in the ritual of Tantric Buddhism," he said. Even on the same statue, there is a contrast: the lower body (from the neck down) is soft, the upper body is angular. "It is also difficult to draw a conclusion, but through comparison, I have some doubts," said Mr. Cong.
Researcher Ho Xuan Tinh, former Director of Quang Nam Museum, acknowledged the intuitive element of architect and researcher Le Tri Cong. However, from the perspective of iconography, Mr. Tinh believes that questioning the masks in Dong Duong style is unreasonable. Because in Dong Duong style, the faces of the statues always have a fierce expression...
More than a thousand years have passed and perhaps more time is needed for future generations to "decode" the message sent by the ancients.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bi-an-khuon-mat-nghin-nam-185241231163356171.htm
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