席琳
中华民族的历史源远流长,号称有上下五千年的文明,其中有两千五百多年的时间,都在孙子兵法的指导下。与天斗,其乐无穷,与地斗,其乐无穷,与人斗,其乐无穷。这种斗的本质,就是赌,而赌的始作俑者,就是田忌和齐威王,司马迁在《史记》中说:
大英博物馆藏东汉六博釉陶俑
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四川新津东汉画像残石上的仙人六博图 |
于是乎,国人就发明了赌戏和赌博的道具,叫作六博、象棋、牌九、骰子和麻将等等,历年壮大,不断推陈出新,成了大国国粹。材质从泥巴的,到竹子的,到木头的,到骨头的,再到象牙的,在英国伦敦的一家叫霍尼曼(horniman museum and gardens)的博物馆里,都有完整的收藏和介绍。
有了赌具了,计算输赢的赌票也要跟得上。霍尼曼博物馆收藏了九枚圆形的赌票,是象牙做成的,另外的118枚长条状的,是兽骨做成的。
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Nine round ivory gambling counters, eight of which are marked with Chinese numerals (2-7 & 9-10) in green, the other a large croupier's token marked in green with the 'zhuang' character, meaning 'banker' in a gambling game.
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118 Chinese dominoes of long, narrow rectangular tiles made of bone, marked with red or black dots on each end and on both obverse and reverse, contained in wooden box without lid.
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另外有叁枚最高级的赌票,是用青花瓷做的,两枚是圆的,一枚是六边形的:
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Three gambling tokens made of porcelain. Two of them are round, one is hexagonal. All are inscribed with Chinese characters in underglaze cobalt blue pigment on the reverse, either 'qian' (money) or 'He He' (name of the twin gods of riches). On the obverse, one token is embossed with Chinese inscriptions in seal script, one in regular script with 'li lu heng tong' (path to good fortune is smooth and prosperous), and one with a seated immortal.
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家里还正好就有那麽五枚青花瓷的赌票,两枚圆形的,两枚六角形的,一枚长方形但又折角的,是成发和江财公司发行的,都有釉下青花书写的汉字。拿来放在一起,就可以成群了。其中的一枚,直径不足一厘米,应该是世界上最小的青花瓷赌票了。
另外还有几十枚珍珠母做成的赌票,形态各异,上面也刻有不同的花纹,分放在几个精美的大漆盒内,也非常的漂亮。