A vivid panorama of life in early Tang Dynasty丨闵博这个重磅展览，还有谁不知道

Reflection on the Zhen-guan Governance, a Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) cul-ture exhibition, is now on at Minhang Museum and will run through May 5.

Zhenguan refers to the name of the reign of Emperor Li Shimin (AD 599-649) from AD 627 to 649. The exhibition features 132 pieces or sets of cultural relics from 13 muse-ums such as the Zhaoling Museum of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province; Beijing’s National Museum of China; the Shanxi Museum; and the Inner Mongolia Museum.

The relics, illustrations and notes combine to present a panorama of politics, social milieu, cultural ex-changes and historic changes during early Tang.

A prelude hall guides visitors through a history of battles the emper-or joined when he was a young prince by showcasing six stone reliefs depict-ing the warhorses he rode to subdue various uprisings nationwide.

Each of the stone horses has an arrow on the butt or the body, suggesting the emperor himself was wounded profusely during the battles.

A very historic item among the ex-hibits is a gravestone of Yuchi Jingde (AD 585-658), a reliable general for the emperor. The general rescued Li when the latter launched the Xuanwu Gate coup for the crown and was on the verge of being killed by his opponent.

The gravestone weighs more than a ton and its epigraph bears 25 Chi-nese characters carved in feibai (飞白) calligraphy style characterized by its hollow strokes. Its surroundings are decorated by patterns of peony.

Tang tri-colored glazed ceramics are a highlight among the exhibits.

The glazes have their natural colors of yellow, green and white through firing of glaze with mixed metals such as bronze, iron oxide and lead.

Tang tri-colored glazed ceramic pot

Painted glazed pottery was an-other craft skill during Tang. Differing from the tri-colored glazed ceramics that reflect colors naturally, the colors on these pottery were painted.

A pair of figurines featuring a civil official and a military officer borrowed from Zhaoling Museum are craftworks of painted glazed pottery. Their colors, patterns and lines are clearer than works of tri-colored glazed ceramics.

"The figurine of the military of-ficer wears mirror armor on his bosom,"said Xu Di, head of Minhang Museum’s publicity and education de-partment. "Soldiers in the first row of a fighting squad in Tang wore mirror armors. The mirrors reflected sun-rays to blind the opponents."

Painted glazed pottery figurines featuring a military officer (left) and a civil official

Xu added: "The figurine of the civil official was so subtly carved that we are able to see his earholes. Its connotation shows an emperor’s willingness to accept opinions from his subordinates."

"The Portrait of a Smiling Lady"is a mural unearthed from the tomb of the niece of Emperor Li Shimin.

"Women were bound by diverse social norms in ancient times. Yet in Tang some of them were broken and we see historic records of women riding horses," Xu pointed out. "The smiling lady showing her teeth re-flects a relaxed social atmosphere."

Chiwen (鸱吻) are decorations on both sides of the main ridge of a roof that functioned as both fire protec-tion and lucky token to ward off evil spirits. The pottery chiwen exhibited this time came from the graveyard of Li Shimin. It weighs 150 kilograms and is 1.5 meters tall.

A pottery chiwen from the graveyard of Li Shimin

Another important item, a gilded gold silver teapot, will be displayed at the end of March. The history of the teapot tells about Greek, Persian and Chinese civilizations and trading and exchanges on the ancient silk road.

《贞观鉴——大唐历史文化主题展》正在闵行博物馆展出，将持续到5月5日。

此次展览汇聚了来自全国13家文博单位的132件（套）珍贵文物，其中48件（套）为国家一级文物，时间跨度自北周绵延至中晚唐，横亘三个朝代。展览以唐太宗李世民及其缔造的贞观盛世为核心，生动再现了他成就大唐基业的辉煌历程，铺陈开一幅气势恢宏的盛唐图景。

可以发现，在唐朝时期有很多描绘女性的文物，足以证实当时的女性地位和对女性的重视。闵行区博物馆宣教科主任徐迪介绍：“古代女性受到各种社会规范的约束，但在唐朝，一些规范被打破，我们也可以看到女性骑马时的英姿飒爽。”

《贞观鉴》中所展出的陶鸱尾，原为昭陵献殿正脊上的装饰。昭陵是李世民的陵寝，献殿则是祭祀时摆放供品的主殿。这件鸱尾高1.5米，重150公斤。光是依靠这件文物，便不难想象出当时昭陵比屋连甍，飞檐翘角的宏伟气势。根据文物的尺寸推算，当时的献殿高度应在10米左右，彰显着人们对“天可汗”的无限尊崇。