What are all the cultural characteristics of bronze ornamentation in the Shang and Zhou periods?

This question I know.

Pattern decoration is an important content of the study of Shang and Zhou period bronzes, and its in-depth study is of great significance.

The bronze ornamentation mainly includes taotie pattern (animal face pattern), kui dragons, phoenix and bird pattern, round vortex pattern, stealing curved pattern, wave pattern, augur pattern, coiled chi dragon pattern, chi viper pattern, feather pattern, four-petal pattern, hooked thunder pattern, connecting beads pattern, all kinds of animals (rhinoceros, owls, rabbits, cicadas, tortoises, birds, elephants, tigers, frogs, cows, goats, bears, pigs, etc.) pattern, all kinds of animal deformation patterns, fire patterns, portraits and so on.

Taotie Pattern (Beast Face Pattern)

Taotie Pattern was the most dominant pattern on bronzes of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, reaching its peak in the late Shang Dynasty and early Western Zhou Dynasty, and was widely used on royal sacrificial vessels, ceremonial vessels, and eating utensils of the pre-Qin period. The first record of taotie motifs appeared in Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals: "The Taotie was cast in the Zhou tripod, with a head and no body, eating people without swallowing, harming their bodies, in order to say that the reward is more, and for the bad as well." However, the edifying function of the taotie motifs mentioned here does not correctly reflect their ideological connotations.

From the point of view of the structure of Chinese characters, the two characters of "taotie" contain the radical "食", and the main feature is that the main part is the image of the head of the beast in the front, with two protruding eyes, a big open mouth, horns and ears; some of them are connected with the claws and tails on the two sides, and some of them have long bodies and curled tails on the two sides. The shape of the animal is the same as that of the head of the animal.

According to "Zuo Zhuan - Xuan Gong three years": "(Wang Sunman) in the past, Xia's side of the virtue, far away from the figure of things, tribute to the gold Nine herdsmen, casting tripods like things, a hundred things, and for the preparation, so that the people know that God is treacherous. Therefore, the people into the rivers and rivers and mountains, do not meet not if; demons and monsters, can not meet. Use can be harmonized with the upper and lower, in order to become a heavenly rest." The images on the Shang Dynasty bronzes mentioned here should be the gods dispersing "demons and monsters".

And the Book of Rites: "Yin people honor the gods, rate the people to serve the gods, the first ghosts and then rituals, the first punishment and then reward, respect and not pro. Their people were shabby, swaggering and unquiet, victorious and without shame." That is to say, the society during the Shang Dynasty, almost everything has to be divined, coupled with the perfect weekly sacrificial system, the people who honored the gods should pay great attention to the sacrificial vessels. The casting of decorations on important sacrificial vessels, then this kind of decoration must have occupied an important position in the hearts of merchants.

Taotie motifs may be related to totemic beliefs when they first appeared, but with the development of society, especially after entering the pre-Qin period, they gradually evolved into a representation of the majesty and dominance of the ruling class. The taotie motif is an unshakeable representation of bronze ornamentation.

Dragon

On the bronzes, the dragon pattern is also one of the main decorations, and its shape is mostly curved. In the early days, the dragon motifs on bronzes were mostly depicted with thin lines, and only later did the lines become wider and covered with other decorative motifs. With the development of society, the image of the dragon has become fuller, people in order to dragon pattern more prominent, in the dragon pattern under the engraving of cloud and thunder pattern and other patterns, in this context, the dragon more clear.

The dragon pattern has a variety of patterns, such as: tiger ear dragon pattern, tiger ear symmetrical arrangement; before the roll horn dragon pattern, the corner of the front roll, symmetrical arrangement; after the roll horn dragon pattern, the corner of the back roll, symmetrical arrangement; zigzag horn dragon pattern, the corner of the zigzag, symmetrical arrangement; giraffe horns dragon pattern, horns like a giraffe, symmetrical arrangement; the elephant nose dragon pattern, the nose as long as the nose of an elephant; curled dragon pattern, the body for the curling, in a variety of forms.

One of the representatives of the dragon pattern is kui dragons. Kui Long, a legendary animal like a dragon, the image is generally open, one-horned, single-footed, on the curled tail. The kui dragons, on the other hand, are sideways dragon-shaped images with long, bowed bodies and horns on their heads. Kui dragons and the round vortex pattern arranged in a two-sided continuous pattern, that is, for the ancient literature, "fire dragon embroidery, show its text also" mentioned in the fire dragon, and the round vortex pattern that is "fire to Won, mountain to chapter, water to dragon" in the fire pattern.

Phoenix

Phoenix appeared and was widely used, and the Shang origin legend is closely related. According to the Historical Records of Yin Benji: "Three people walking bath, see the Xuan bird fell its eggs, Jane Di take swallowed, because of the conception of the birth of Chee." Merchant ancestor Chee was born as a result of his mother Jane Dee in the outdoor bath, eating the eggs of the Xuan bird and pregnancy. As absurd as this may seem, the ancients were convinced of this.

The phoenix bird pattern, with a gorgeous crown on the head, some with horns and a flurry of tail feathers, exudes a kind of spirit of life. Fully demonstrates the merchants' love of life and respect for their ancestors.

Bird motifs appear on bronzes, the earliest so far appeared in the Erligang culture of the Shang Dynasty. The earliest bird pattern is the small bird pattern, popular in the middle of the Yinxu to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, rare after King Mu. Generally, they were without or with simple crown feathers, with pointed beaks, some of which were hooked down, most of which stood flat on their backs, and very few of which stood straight on their backs, with pointed feathers and upturned wings, and most of which had drooping tails.

The bird pattern in the middle and late Yin ruins is the big bird pattern, which began to appear frequently. The early Western Zhou Dynasty to the period of King Mu and King Gong is known as the era of phoenix pattern. Based on the continuation of the late Shang Dynasty styles, many new styles of phoenix and bird motifs appeared, such as multi-toothed crown phoenix and bird motifs, feathered phoenix and bird motifs, plume phoenix and bird motifs, corolla phoenix and bird motifs, and long-crowned and drooping-tailed phoenix and bird motifs. By the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the style of the large phoenix bird pattern is basically the crown phoenix bird, generally used to decorate the bronze pot.

Other motifs

Last week, in addition to the main motifs, there are some other motifs on the bronzes, although they can also be used as the main motifs, but basically to accompany the main motifs.

The Stealing Curve Pattern. The pattern is generally from the bird pattern, dragon pattern and some other figurative pattern gradually developed, decorative, adaptable and strong, can appear in any place of the bronze, and can show a good pattern structure characteristics.

Wave pattern (ring band pattern). The pattern is a broader and very smooth curved pattern, the style is basically a continuous S-shaped, often appearing together with the auger pattern, used for the decoration of the ode pots.

Coiled viper pattern. Almost a smaller version of the kui dragons motif, as if they were small, bent and coiled snakes. Although the structure of the pattern is not complicated, it is folded out as if it were a gorgeous brocade due to the constant and continuous repetition. Of course, such a small and tight pattern is difficult to accomplish without advanced production techniques.

Feather pattern. The pattern is also changed from the dragon pattern. From the surface, it looks like countless tiny feathers or tossing fine waves, but if you look closely, you can still find the dragon's head and claws.

Cloud pattern. The lines of this pattern are easily rounded into squares and are usually inside patterns such as triangles, circles or hearts. In the middle of the Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period, is the golden period of the cloud pattern, was used in large quantities in bronze decoration, instead of taotie pattern, stealing curved pattern and other decorations.

Elephant motifs, deer motifs, rabbit motifs, cicada motifs, sphinx motifs and other motifs. These decorations, most of which were taken directly from real life or mythological stories by the people, generally originated in the middle and late Spring and Autumn period, and the glorious period was the Warring States.

The above kinds of decorations, basically as the main pattern. And the following kinds of decorative patterns, generally will not be used singly on bronze objects, mostly with other geometric patterns.

Yun Lei pattern. The pattern is a combination of cloud and thunder patterns, prevalent in the Shang Dynasty. The pattern outlined by soft curly lines is known as the cloud pattern, and the pattern outlined by angular square straight lines is known as the thunder pattern.

Vortex pattern. This pattern, also known as the fire pattern, is composed of circles. In the center of the circle there is a small circle surrounded by four to eight semicircular circular lines arranged in the same direction, representing the undulation of the figure. The scroll pattern was mostly used on the shoulders and bellies of gui, tripods, jars, jia, jugs and wine containers, and was prevalent during the Shang Dynasty.

In addition, there are nipple patterns, snake patterns and so on.

It can be seen that the rich ornamentation on the bronze, yes, this deep and huge modeling objects, won a shocking aesthetic effect, but also reflects the unique decorative beauty of traditional Chinese ornamentation.

Old iron seeks praise.