A GOLD 'BOAR' ORNAMENT

Spring and Autumn Period

Footnotes

春秋 金野豬飾件

This gold ornament vividly depicts the galloping wild boar in a realistic manner. The beast is meticulously detailed: the body is strong and powerful, with short, muscular limbs. Its head is long and flat, with a prominent snout and a regular, disc-shaped nose. Its upper canines are exposed and gracefully curved into tusks. Its neck and shoulders are covered in coarse bristles, and its tail curls naturally. The side is skilfully cast with concave circular and semicircular patterns, demonstrating exquisite craftsmanship.

Wild boars were an important hunting target for the nobility during the Spring and Autumn Period. Shijing (The Book of Songs) contains a passage that reads, "I keep my pig for myself, and offer my boar to the king." This clearly states that commoners could keep small wild boars (pi) for themselves, but large wild boars (shi) were to be presented to their lords, according to etiquette regulations. Archaeological research indicates that during the Spring and Autumn Period, ancient peoples began experimenting with domesticating wild boars, improving the breed through captive breeding and crossbreeding. However, a strict distinction was still maintained between domesticated pigs (豕) and wild boars (彘). Notably, wild boars played a crucial role in sacrificial rituals. The Liji(Book of Rites) explicitly records that "vassal states offered 彘 as sacrifices," and the Zhou royal family also offered pigs to mountain and river spirits. As a unique cultural symbol, the wild boar during the Spring and Autumn Period represented both the threat of the wilderness and the dual symbolism of bravery and ritual. Its artistic imagery appears extensively in hunting, military affairs, crafts, and religious beliefs, vividly reflecting the complex relationship between agricultural civilization and the wilderness, a relationship characterized by both conflict and mutual dependence.

此金飾件以寫實手法生動呈現了野豬奔騰的雄姿。該器物造型刻畫精細：野豬體軀雄健渾厚，四肢短促而強健有力；頭部修長扁平，吻部顯著前突，鼻端呈規整的圓盤狀，上犬齒外露並形成優美的彎曲獠牙；頸背至肩部覆蓋著粗硬的鬃毛，尾部自然捲曲。器表精心鑄造出凹面圓形與半圓形紋飾，工藝精湛。

野豬作為春秋時期貴族田獵活動的重要狩獵物件，在《詩經·豳風·七月》中即有「言私其豵，獻豜於公」的記載，明確記載了平民獵獲小野豬（豵）可自行保留，而大型野豬（豜）則須進獻領主的禮制規範。考古研究表明，春秋先民已開始嘗試馴化野豬，通過圈養雜交等方式改良家豬品種，但當時仍嚴格區分家豬（豕）與野豬（彘）。值得注意的是，野豬在祭祀文化中具有重要地位，《禮記》明確記載「諸侯祭以彘」，周王室亦以豕祭祀山川神靈。作為特殊的文化符號，春秋時期的野豬既代表著來自荒野的自然威脅，又承載著勇武精神與祭祀功能的雙重象徵意義。其藝術形象廣泛見於狩獵、軍事、工藝及宗教信仰等諸多領域，生動折射出農耕文明與荒野環境既相互對抗又彼此依存的複雜關係。