Attribution Issues of the Showpiece of the State Museum of the East. On the Example of the "Head with a three-legged toad"

Adankina Anastasiia Vladimirovna ORCID: 0009-0009-8997-252X Specialist in educational and methodological work, Russian State University for the Humanities 125047, Russia, Moscow, Miusskaya Ploshchad str., 6, building 5, room 308 aav1407@ya.ru

Introduction

The study of the primary source — a museum object — is, along with the preservation of heritage, the main purpose of the museum and the scientific basis of all its activities. The discovery of previously unknown sources, modern technological possibilities for the study of museum objects become an impulse for new discoveries regarding "textbook" objects, for reviewing existing data and correcting them.

A striking example is the objects that are significant for Russian culture due to their connection with the name of A.S. Pushkin. We are talking about dueling pistols by A. S. Pushkin and J. Dantes, to whom a number of works were devoted already in the XXI century, refuting previous well-established attributions ^[1-4]. The need for constant study of museum objects is recognized in every museum, the results of research are published in catalogs, in scientific articles, on museum websites and widely broadcast to society.

The object under study — the "Head with a three—legged Toad" - is one of the key and most recognizable exhibits of the State Museum of Oriental Art. The exhibit has become widespread in popular culture thanks to the TV company "VID", by the decision of the founders of which (The State Museum of the East [Electronic resource]: "Who does not remember the legendary screensaver of the TV company VID? ..." // VKontakte : social network.  URL: https://vk.com/wall-51591430_497 (date of issue: 02/01/2024)) it was chosen for the logo and was used in the popular "scary" screensaver, which became a "nightmare" for an entire generation of children of the 1990s. Initially, the "Head ..." is not particularly frightening: a welcoming expression with a slight smile, large earlobes (in China, this feature is considered a symbol of vitality and longevity; the image of elongated earlobes of the Buddha and great people dates back to the Indo—Buddhist aesthetic system, this feature was perceived by the Chinese tradition only in IV-VI ^{[5, p. 269]}), a three-legged toad sits on the crown. For the logo, the image of the "Head..." has been redesigned and has undergone significant changes. An important attribute indicating that in front of you is a sculpture with the image of a sage / saint / immortal — long ears - were cut off during installation. The benevolent smile turned into displeased curved lips. The toad on his head half disappeared into the darkness, becoming like an element of a hairstyle or a strange-looking hat. Additionally, the image was discolored and darkened, which made it look frightening and repulsive. Probably, the developers of the logo planned to create a memorable image by using a "scary" image that appears to the tune corresponding to its character. It can be stated that the authors have coped with the task — the screensaver has become iconic. In 2017, the screensaver of the TV company "VID" underwent some changes: the ears were "returned" to the sculpture, made it lighter, the shadow hiding the toad was removed, and the character began to "smile" again.

Summarizing information about the exhibit

 The "Head with a three-legged Toad" is located in the Art of China hall of the permanent exhibition of the State Museum of Oriental Art, a section dedicated to the art of the Han period (206 BC-220 AD). The label for the exhibit is very concise, it does not suggest a possible prototype: "A head with a three-legged toad. The Han period (206 BC-220 AD). Ceramics". On the official website of the State Catalog of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, which unites all collections of museums in our country, the description is as follows (State Catalog.RF [Electronic resource]: A head with a three-legged toad // State Catalog of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation. URL: https://goskatalog.ru/portal/#/collections?id=5147996 (date of reference: 02/01/2024)): "A head with a three-legged toad. Ceramics, tinting, molding. China. The head of a bald man, a three-legged toad sits on the crown. Traces of blue paint." There is no dating here.

On the website of the State Museum of the East, the exhibit is characterized as "The head of a Taoist with a three-legged toad. The Han period (206 BC-220 AD). Ceramics, coloring. Terracotta head of a Taoist saint with a three-legged toad on the crown" (State Museum of the East [Electronic resource]: Art of China // The State Museum of the East : official website. URL: https://www.orientmuseum.ru/collections/china/index.php (date of application: 02/01/2024)). The peculiarity of this description in comparison with those discussed above is that it introduces an indication of the identity of the depicted individual to the traditional Chinese philosophical and religious movement - Taoism.

The Guide to the permanent exhibition of Chinese Art of the State Museum of Oriental Art presents similar information about the "Head...", but containing even more specifics ^{[6, p. 33]}: "The head of a Taoist with a three-legged toad. Han period (206 BC-220 AD), ceramics, coloring. A mysterious smile wanders on the character's face, his ears are elongated, and the back of his head is covered by a mythological three-legged creature. This is probably the Taoist saint Hou-hsien, whose companion was a three-legged Moon toad capable of performing miracles." Thus, the head is interpreted in this case as an image not of an abstract representative of Taoism, but of the little-known saint Hou-hsien. In addition, the guide contains a story about the origin of the sculpture: it was given to the museum in 1949 by the collector D. M. Melnikov, who told a very curious fact, namely: "the Chinese reported <...> that the head was discovered in the burial of a commander of the Han period" ^{[6, p. 32]}.

On the official channel of the State Museum of the East on the Zen blog platform, the stories from the Guidebook have received a more complete interpretation. The caption to the photo of the sculpture is as follows: "A head with a three-legged toad. China, the Han period (306 BC-320 AD). Ceramics, tinting" (Museum of the East [Electronic resource]: A head with a three-legged toad: a prototype of the TV company's screensaver VIEW // Zen : a blog platform. URL: https://dzen.ru/a/Y4Sv-OtdDiXm5FqM (date of application: 02/01/2024)). Obviously, the dating is indicated incorrectly (perhaps this is a typo), because this era lasted from 206 BC to 220 AD, as already noted above. Discrepancies in the designation of dates mislead both virtual visitors to the official channels of the Museum of the East and real visitors to the museum's exposition in the building on Nikitsky Boulevard.

The article of the State Museum of the East on the Zen blog platform also duplicates the data of the guidebook about the alleged prototype of the sculpture - the Taoist saint Hou-xiang accompanied by a three-legged Moon Toad. This theory is being developed here, a new character is introduced — Liu Har: "During the Middle Ages, Hou-hsien transformed into the image of Liu Har — a fool with a three-legged toad, which became associated with the desire for wealth" (Museum of the East [Electronic resource]: A head with a three-legged toad: the prototype of the screensaver of the TV company VID // Zen : a blog platform. URL: https://dzen.ru/a/Y4Sv-OtdDiXm5FqM (date of application: 02/01/2024)). The authors of the text comment on the legend of the origin of the exhibit, told by collector D. M. Melnikov, and explain why the "Head ..." could be found in the burial of a decapitated commander: "According to Chinese belief, beheading was the heaviest form of punishment, since after death the soul could "search for the head for a long time" and not find rest. Therefore, the deceased could be "replaced" with any other head, for example, a ceramic one" (Museum of the East [Electronic resource]: A head with a three-legged toad: a prototype of the screensaver of the TV company VID // Zen : a blog platform. URL: https://dzen.ru/a/Y4Sv-OtdDiXm5FqM (date of application: 02/01/2024)). This information is quite controversial, because there is evidence of the practice of burying people with a replaced "golden" head starting only from the XVIII century. ^{[7, p. 110]}.

The greatest variability of versions regarding the history of the origin of the "Head ..." is found in the official community of the State Museum of the East VKontakte. In addition to the information that this is an image of Hou-hsien (State Museum of the East [Electronic resource]: "Sharing a drawing of Bogdan Timchenko ..." / VKontakte : social network. URL: https://vk.com/wall-51591430_5435 (date of reference: 02/01/2024)), there is a post in which the prototype of the exhibit is called the follower of the "Doctrine of the Hidden" Chinese philosopher Guo Xiang (252-312): the author of the post writes that the ceramic head of the ancient Chinese philosopher Guo Xiang with a three-legged toad on his head (Period Han, 206 BC-220 AD)" (The State Museum of the East [Electronic resource]: "Who does not remember the legendary screensaver of the TV company VID? ..." // VKontakte : social network.  URL: https://vk.com/wall-51591430_497 (date of application: 02/01/2024)).

The analysis of the material regarding the exhibit of interest to us shows that various data are presented in different information channels of the State Museum of the East, sometimes contradicting each other. Summarizing the above information, the following main characteristics of the subject can be distinguished:

- the sculpture was created in China;

- the time of creation of the sculpture is the Han Era (206 BC-220 AD);

- the most likely prototype of the exhibit "Head with a three-legged Toad" is the Taoist saint Hou-hsien, whose companion is a Lunar three-legged toad; subsequently, in the Middle Ages, his image was transformed into the fool Liu Hara;

- another possible prototype of the "Head..." may be the Chinese philosopher Guo Xiang, one of the founders and adherents of the "Doctrine of the Hidden";

- the purpose of this exhibit is to "replace" the "real" head in the burial of a decapitated person in order to find the repose of the buried one.

Prerequisites for re-attribution

First of all, it should be noted that the least possible prototype of the "Head with a three—legged toad" is the philosopher Guo Xiang. The dates of his life (252-312) do not coincide with the Han period (206 BC-220 AD) and fall on a later period — the era of the Three Kingdoms (220-280) and the Jin Dynasty (265-420), following the Han period. If we follow the specified dating of the exhibit, then Guo Xiang was not born at that time.

According to the collector who transferred the "Head..." to the museum, it was removed from the burial, which in this case would be quite strange — there is no tradition in China to place ceramic heads of philosophers in any graves. The philosopher was not deified, and therefore there was no motivation for placing a sculpture of an ordinary person's head in a burial. There are also no known statues depicting Guo Xiang. Thus, Guo Xiang's personality does not meet any criteria as a prototype of the sculpture in question.

If we assume that the prototype of the studied exhibit is indeed a certain Taoist saint Hou-hsien, therefore, some information about him should be preserved. However, information about the saint is not available in the authoritative scientific reference literature ^[8-9]. The most likely figure called Hou Xiang is the little-known Taoist immortal Hou Xiansheng. According to the biography from the "Comprehensive Mirror of the Immortals, Personifying the Path through the Ages" (1279-1368), he lived during the Song Era (960-1279), or more precisely, during the reign of Emperor Ren—tsung (1022-1063). The biography also features a huge toad, into which Hou xiansheng either reincarnates when immersed in water, or a toad accompanies him when bathing (Lishi zhen xian ti dao tong jian (A comprehensive mirror of the immortals, personifying the Path through the ages)  [Electronic resource]: (49 juan), (Hou-xiansheng) // Wikisource : free electronic library. URL: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki//49# (date of application: 02/01/2024)). If we accept this theory as true, then the exhibit turns out to be much later — its age decreases by an average of a millennium.

The "fool" Liu Har, according to Taoist mythology, is the god of coins, and the supposed real character who was the basis of his image lived in the VIII-IX centuries ^{[10, pp. 516-517]}. As a rule, Liu Har is depicted laughing, which to a certain extent corresponds to the sculptural image of the character of the State Museum of Oriental Art.  However, the position of the toad on its head does not correspond to the canon, which is described as follows: "in the hands of a cord with coins strung on it, a three-legged toad holds onto the last of them, biting it. Sometimes the god of coins stands on a toad" ^{[10, pp. 516-517]}. Drawing attention to the exhibits of both the State Museum of the East and other museums, we note that in the Chinese tradition Liu Har is depicted standing on a toad (State Catalog.Russian Federation [Electronic resource]: Luo Pin. The scroll is vertical. Lyukhar na zhaba // State catalog of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation. URL: https://goskatalog.ru/portal/#/collections?id=4692500 (date of application: 02/01/2024)). On the contrary, the Japanese tradition is characterized by the image of a toad on the shoulders or on the head of Liu Hara (State Catalog.Russian Federation [Electronic resource]: Unknown artist. Album sheet. "Lyukhar with a toad" // State catalog of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation. URL: https://goskatalog.ru/portal/#/collections?id=4410534 (date of application: 02/01/2024)). In this regard, the question arises not only about the need to clarify the dating of the exhibit, but also the place of its origin.

It should be added that in the authoritative literature there is no mention of the use of ceramic heads as a substitute for real ones in burials that were made before the XVIII century. (for example, Sidikhmenov V. Ya. notes that by decree of the emperor it was allowed to bury decapitated people, placing together with the body a "golden" head made of stone or wood and covered with gilding, but the beginning of such a practice was laid only in the XVIII century. ^{[7, p. 110]}. It should be noted that information about the existence of the decree requires clarification, but the practice of burial with a "replaced" one is not really mentioned earlier than the specified period). Grave graves Before this period, they could only be placed in ordinary graves (i.e., not in the graves of decapitated people). as funeral paraphernalia. It can be assumed that this is either one of the local practices, or (which is quite likely) there was a misunderstanding between the collector and the "Chinese, who informed" him of the information about the sculpture's location in the grave of the decapitated commander. Apparently, the sellers of the "Head..." could reproduce the story of the replacement head, because they were included in an already formed later tradition and believed in the possibility of such a use of sculpture themselves.

Conclusions

Based on the above, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1) the exhibit could have been incorrectly attributed and mistakenly attributed to a major historical period of China — the Han;

2) the exhibit may not be an image of Hou-hsien, Liu Hara or Guo Xiang, as stated on the Internet resources of the State Museum of Oriental Art. Let's make our assumptions about the prototype of the character: a) this is probably an image of a Taoist saint, which can relate to both the Han period and another time. b) perhaps the image of an unknown Chinese deity has been recreated, c) it is impossible to exclude the possibility that this exhibit is an image of the Buddha (there are a large number of stone and ceramic heads depicting the Buddha (Tokyo National Museum [Electronic resource]: Futsu atama (Buddha's Head) // National Museum of Tokyo : official website. URL: https://webarchives.tnm.jp/imgsearch/search?title=?+?&creator=&excavation=&invnum=&imageid1=&imageid2=&x=21&y=8) which have similarities with the exhibit in question: a smile, slightly closed eyes, hair on the head is gathered in a bun, which in this case could transform into a toad under the influence of local mythological traditions);

3) the information that the real exhibit is the head of the Taoist deity Liu Hara (according to one version of the State Museum of the East) is refuted by the following data: the prototype of the deity lived in the VIII-IX centuries, and not during the Han period (III century BC-III century AD). In addition, the image him with a toad on his head is typical of the Japanese tradition, not the Chinese one, where the most common image of Liu Hara is riding on a toad. In this case, one can doubt the legality of the location of the exhibit in the "Art of China" section of the State Museum of Oriental Art.

In connection with the diverse and somewhat contradictory data listed above about the exhibit "Head with a three—legged toad", the question of the need for a re-attribution of the subject becomes relevant - the study of available archival data that can provide information about a specific region of origin (since mythological views in China, which also affect the funeral tradition, have strong regional specificity), a deeper study of sources and literature, primarily in Chinese, as well as an analysis of the physical composition of the object by conducting a technical and technological examination of the material from which the museum object is made. An integrated approach to its study can become the basis for a more accurate dating and place of origin of the object.