The people of the world have a kind of dream, which is called “aristocratic fantasy”. There are many such jokes in “Xiao Lin Guang Ji”: the villagers imagine the emperor’s life while cultivating the land, and always feel that their dung forks are all gold; in the emperor’s house, there lives a four-pillar archway, with the words “Emperor’s Family” written in gold on it, and stickers on both sides. Couplet: “Sun, moon, heaven, virtue, mountains and rivers, strong emperor’s residence.” This is the fantasy of the ancient people, so people who edit storytelling and tell stories often do what they like: You like to imagine the emperor’s family as local tyrants, gold, vulgar and silver, and so do we. Follow the editor.
The modern version of this aristocratic fantasy became the “European aristocratic fantasy”. So princes and princesses, knights and ladies, castle velvets, coats of arms and swords became legends. In advocating Europe and poetizing European fantasy, the Japanese are even more exaggerated: they can combine blond and blue eyes with Asian faces to create a strange non-Eurasian classic animation image, which is really thanks to them. China is relatively simple in this regard, and at most there are profiteers who make up some da Vinci furniture and other deceitful people. So the question arises: what was the home life like in the Da Vinci era?
Medieval European nobles lived in castles. They looked majestic, emotional, and the count of vampires who were so handsome that they flew. Because European castles are similar to the castles of Japanese lords: not for the protection of the people, but only for the private residences of nobles. In the war-torn era, there were many bandits; the lord hid in the castle, and he was invulnerable. Speaking of which, the castle was nothing more than that the landlord was afraid of bandits.
However, living in a castle, the actual life, is really not interesting: it is not that there will be vampires and bats, just living in a stone box, everyone is sullen. In the Middle Ages, there was no toilet system, and the guards of the towers used to solve the problem of defecation in the large gap more than ten meters high. Over time, the lord and the servants smelled the stench, and the nose must be very painful. The Tower of London, which is still preserved in the United Kingdom, did not have toilets in the early years, so excrement and urine flowed down the walls – you might as well imagine the smell.
Of course, in the Middle Ages everyone was pretty dirty, so they got used to it. The real problem is one word: cold. After all, on the European continent, except for Italy and Spain, which are more southerly latitudes, most of the rest are northerly, and the winter is cold, especially the stone walls. The British didn’t figure out the fireplace for home use until before the Renaissance. What about stone houses in continental Europe?
So Europeans use tapestries. What is the so-called tapestry art? A: Leaders are afraid of cold! It’s a breeze in the castle, it’s swish!
Later, the Middle Ages were over, the wars were less, and the castles were deserted. Although the lords still had large windows, gates, high walls, high arches and grandiose grandeur, they didn’t need to build gates and buildings. There were heating methods, and tapestries were slowly becoming outdated. Well – it’s too expensive after all.
Back to furniture. At the time of Leonardo da Vinci, European furniture was basically not popular with inlay technology, and it basically depended on carving: engraving beauties, lions, dolphins, leaves, and vines on the surface of the furniture, so your home furniture can be connected to open a zoo. When sleeping at night, I dare not wake up.
Europeans used ebony wood for furniture inlays, and then used brass and ivory. As for the other inlays, including copper, ivory, silver, brass, bone, shell, lapis lazuli, obsidian, marble, rhino horn, it was in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In fact, it wasn’t until the mid-18th century, during the reign of Qianlong in China, that European aristocrats began to make furniture suitable for people’s use, not just to look good.
What about food? Don’t look at the rituals of Western food in Europe today. Before the 16th century, the French used to eat with their hands. The introduction of iron tableware into France was almost the middle of the Ming Dynasty in China. In the 17th century, the Netherlands entered a golden age and was known as the richest man in Europe. What do they eat? A: They boil water, add salt, add some nutmeg, add some minced meat, and dare to call it broth. Ordinary citizens often cook meals only once a week, eating hot food one day and eating cold food for the remaining six days. They don’t have much fresh meat, they can eat cured meat once a week.
The Dutch rich can eat some special things, such as: bread of the best wheat, chestnuts, and a strange meat that “minced beef and mutton, add some vegetables, pour orange juice, soak sour vinegar, and simmer over fire”. Don’t be too rustic: because in the 17th century, when the Ming and Qing Dynasties handed over to China, the richest Dutch people in Europe ate bread made of rye, barley, buckwheat, oat and even broad bean flour. One hundred years ago, you can read “Jin Ping Mei” to experience the market life of the Ming Dynasty, while King Henry IV of France is still making a promise to let the French people realize the following dreams: “Every family can eat every week. Get a chicken!”
Europeans eat potatoes fiercely now, but until 1772—well, before and after Emperor Qianlong and Heshen had a good relationship—the French believed that “there are only two things that eat potatoes: pigs and Englishmen.” At that time, the nobles were not good at eating, so they had to fight. For example, the great Duke of Wellington, on days when his old man’s appetite was not so good, ate only two pigeons, three steaks, three quarters of a bottle of Mosel, a bottle of champagne, other bread and anisette for breakfast Wait a minute.
Europe began to popularize restaurants on a large scale in the early 19th century—well, in the years before and after Emperor Qianlong gave way to Lord Jiaqing. Back then, there was a great revolution in France, which had been frantically tossing for nearly 30 years. During this period, nobles fell, kings beheaded, and Napoleon called for wind and rain. When the great age is surging, what will the great cook do? The master fell, the aristocracy was gone, and the cooks went out to open restaurants—this was the first batch of chef restaurants on the European continent. The famous chef at the time, Antoine Bovier, also opened the first bakery in continental Europe. Also at this time, starting with France, the Russian way of serving one dish after another became popular. What does that mean? Before the 19th century, European aristocrats were actually like our Chinese family banquets: serving dishes filled a large table.
There is a subtle time difference here. The European palace-style luxury boasted by various brands headed by furniture is actually very embarrassing. Because the European aristocracy really entered the material abundance, and the furniture and food could be extravagant all at once, probably in the 18th century, which was equivalent to the prosperity of China’s Kang and Qiang. Ironically, at the peak of the 18th century, France, the most admired was China: a lot of Not to mention the introduction of Chinese porcelain to decorate the Palace of Versailles, it was also specially produced in the porcelain factory of Monk Diey in Wansenburg, depicting the scenes of Chinese life for the sake of expansiveness.
And the standard of living in Europe really improved by leaps and bounds to the extent that it could traverse the world. It was in the 19th century, but it was also the century of revolutions and the disappearance of the aristocracy.
So the fact is that the feudal aristocracy in Europe – simply the landowners with fiefdoms – lived, most of the time, by our current standards, was dirty, dark, cold, rough, and the commonwealth After the 18th century, it was a bit extravagant. The image of European aristocrats depicted in the Chinese context is jointly created by the kind-hearted Chinese people’s beautiful imagination + businessmen who describe their dreams.
In the 19th century, when there were several consecutive World Expos in Paris, some businessmen understood this: the people missed the distant dynasties, the French people and the Chinese people believed that “the emperor also used a golden rake to dig dung”, so as long as any furniture decoration, clothes and food, Saying it was “used by Queen Marie-Antoinette back then” would sell well. People are always willing to pay for such legendary luxury.
So, of course, you can continue to believe in the legends of European aristocrats, but if you need a little intuitive impression, then, perhaps, in film and television works such as “A Song of Ice and Fire” and “Braveheart”, the shabby and dark European aristocracy as a whole The appearance is closer to the real than the “European palace-style luxury garden” on various real estate advertisements in China.
