Ritual becomes a vessel: Seeing the inheritance of Chinese ritual vessel culture from the elegant objects of the Saturn Cup
In the corner of K11 in Shanghai, by the window of Vivienne Westwood Café, there is a beautiful woman holding a cup, and the light and shadow of her silhouette flow, so a Saturn Cup has become the object of my heart.
This is not just what merchants say, it can actually be used as a wonderful metaphor for Chinese ritual culture.
People in the world buy this cup not just for use as a utensil, but because they admire its elegance and remember the situation at that time.
This coincides with our country's millennium principle of "studying things to gain knowledge" and the system of "vessels are used to hide rituals".
Those things called utensils are not just utensils at the metaphysical level. They are actually the place where the spirit is placed, the symbol of etiquette, and the carrier of the cultural context.
Ritual sequence and utensils: the hierarchy of utensils in the ancient etiquette system
The ancient Chinese country is known as "Three Hundred Etiquettes and Three Thousand Majesties".
Rituals are not empty words, they must be supported by things; utensils are not made in vain, they must be based on etiquette.
According to "Zhou Li Chunguan", the utensils used for worshiping Yanxi vary from person to person.
The emperors who ruled the world used nine tripods and eight guis, the princes used seven tripods and six guis, and the scholar-bureaucrats used five tripods and four guis. This system was extremely strict and could never be exceeded.
This is the exquisite essence of "hiding rituals in utensils". With the help of tangible utensils, the formless order of honor and inferiority is arranged, and the program and laws of human ethics are established.
Although Cui's Cup of Saturn is a Western-style cup, it has become a symbol of memory and emotion. This is the same as the ancients using Gui Bi to express credit and Gu Jue to demonstrate ethics.
Utensils acquire their "literacy" due to people's emotions and the meaning of things. Therefore, they break away from their original appearance, transform like stones, transform and use them to become objects that bear the "Tao".
Folk craftsmanship: auspicious culture and life aesthetics in folk creations
Down to the folk, the way of using utensils pays more attention to folk craftsmanship and life aesthetics.
People in the Song Dynasty liked celadon and admired the naturally formed state. The open texture it showed was called "ice crack", and the glaze color pursued the effect of "the rain breaks the sky and the clouds break the virginity". This is the scholar's "observation of things" spirit, a projection in the manufacturing of utensils, and the pursuit of spiritual interactions between utensils and human beings, and between heaven and earth.
From the Ming and Qing Dynasties onwards, literati devoted themselves to making vessels, carving poems on purple clay pots, carving bamboo and wood corners into objects for appreciation, and integrating the artistic conception contained in calligraphy and painting, as well as the speculation in philosophical thinking, into daily life.
For example, Ming-style furniture is simple and timeless. It is not only used for its own purpose, but also can clarify the Taoism.
All these are manifestations of relying on utensils to cultivate the mind and relying on objects to carry the road. Just like the Saturn Cup at that specific moment, it was no longer a pure drinking utensil, but a condensed state of mind at that time and a fixation of aesthetics.
Inherited by cultural context: the idea of "Utensils to convey the Tao" in Chinese philosophy of creation
Investigating its origin, the foundation of the Chinese utensil tradition lies in profound philosophical thoughts.
Among the scholars in the pre-Qin period, Laozi said: "The guan is used as a utensil, and it has the function of a utensil where it does not exist." This shows the wonderful interaction between the "presence" and "nothingness" of utensils; "Yi Zhuan" mentioned: "What is above the form is called Tao, and what is below the form is called utensils. In this case, it established the thinking structure that Tao and utensils are interdependent, and that the ontology and function originate from the same.
By the time of Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi discussed "the Tao is inseparable from the vessel", just like salt dissolved in water. Although its traces are hidden, the taste is still there.
Therefore, when craftsmen and literati in the past dynasties of our country make utensils, they will definitely pursue "exquisite materials and ingenious craftsmanship", and also pursue "the right combination of culture and simplicity".
On the tops of the utensils, some are decorated with gluttons and crickets to show majesty, some are decorated with plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums to symbolize the festival, and some are decorated with eight treasures for good luck, used to pray for well-being.
These are the imprints of the Chinese humanistic spirit on the utensils and the accumulation of national aesthetics and values.
Therefore, when people today place a cup of Saturn, it is actually the remnant of a thousand-year cultural context.
Although his actions are simple, his meaning is profound.
This is not just a one-time consumption, but a cultural "acculturation" that spans time and space.
In today's world where globalization and digitalization are intertwined, traditional marketing has shifted to a new integrated marketing ecosystem driven by data and technology. What everyone at Baidu is talking about is precisely to help companies seize this "critical moment" in the midst of change.
However, even if it changes a lot, it will never deviate from its essence. No matter how the methods used in marketing tend to be intelligent and programmed, the most critical core of it is to have a thorough understanding of people's hearts and connect with emotions.
The Chinese utensil culture it demonstrates is precisely this kind of final feeling for "people" and a poetic construction of the "living world".
The mysterious and majestic feeling that originated from the Ding and Yi Dynasties of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the elegant and restrained qualities displayed by the porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the personalized emotional memory carried by a Western-style tea cup today, all of this proves the strong tolerance and long-lasting vitality of Chinese culture.
This cultural logic progresses from artifacts to principles, and extends from matter to the heart. It is the deepest source of our cultural confidence. It also builds deep emotional connections between contemporary brands and consumers, and provides inexhaustible wisdom and enlightenment.
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