What are the characteristics of Xia, Shang and Zhou bronzes?

Bronze is a great invention in human history. It is an alloy of copper, tin and lead and the earliest alloy in the history of metal casting. After the invention of bronze, it became popular immediately, and since then, human history has entered a new stage-the bronze age.

China has a long history of using copper. About six or seven thousand years ago, our ancestors discovered and began to use copper. 1973, a semicircular copper chip was unearthed at Jiangzhai site in Lintong, Shaanxi Province, and was identified as brass. 1975, a bronze knife (about 3000 BC) was unearthed at the Majiayao cultural site in Linjia, Dongxiang, Gansu. This is the earliest bronze found in China at present, and it is the proof that China entered the Bronze Age. Compared with West Asia, South Asia and North Africa, which successively entered the bronze age about 6,500 years ago, China's bronze age came later, but it cannot be denied that it originated independently, because there was a bronze stone age in China, about 5,500 "4,500 years ago. On this basis, China invented bronze alloy, which is the same as the development mode of bronzes in the world, so it can be ruled out that Chinese bronzes spread from abroad.

"the great event of the country lies in obedience." For the countries in the Central Plains of China before the Qin Dynasty, the biggest thing was sacrifice and foreign wars. As the representative of the most advanced metal refining and casting technology at that time, bronze was also mainly used for sacrifice and war. Bronzes discovered in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties are surrounded by ritual vessels, weapons and ornaments, which are different from bronzes in other countries and form a bronze cultural system with traditional characteristics in China.

Generally speaking, the development of bronze culture in China can be divided into three stages, namely, formation period, peak period and transition period. The formation period refers to the Longshan period, 4500 ~ 4000 years ago; The heyday was the bronze age of China, including Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn Period and early Warring States Period, which lasted about 1600 years, that is, the bronze age of China's traditional system; The transitional period refers to the period from the end of the Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties. Bronze ware was gradually replaced by iron, which not only greatly reduced the number, but also changed from the initial ritual weapons and used in ceremonial sacrifices, war activities and other important occasions into daily utensils, and its corresponding types, structural characteristics and decorative arts also took a turning point.

I. Formation period

4500 "4000 years ago, the Longshan era was equivalent to the legendary Yao, Shun and Yu era. According to ancient documents, people began to smelt and cast bronzes at that time. Among the Longshan Age sites in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, bronzes were found in dozens of sites after archaeological excavations. Judging from the existing materials, the bronzes in the formation period have the following characteristics:

1, copper and bronze coexist, and brass appears. A bronze knife was unearthed from Linjia site in Dongxiang, Gansu Province. Two pieces of red bronze wares with holes were found at Dacheng Mountain site in Tangshan, Hebei Province. A bronze container fragment containing 7% tin was unearthed in Longshan, Wang Chenggang, Dengfeng, Henan. A complete bronze bell was unearthed in the cemetery of Taosi Temple in Xiangfen, Shanxi. Two brass cones were unearthed from Sanlihe site in Jiaoxian County, Shandong Province; Brass fragments unearthed from Yangjiahuan, Qixia, Shandong Province. The Qijia culture in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia has the largest number of copper products. Knives, cones, drills, rings and copper edges have been unearthed in several cemeteries, some of which are bronze and some are red copper. In terms of production technology, some are forging and some are die casting, which are relatively advanced.

2. There are not many kinds of bronzes, most of which belong to daily tools and daily necessities, such as knives, cones, drills, rings, bronze mirrors and decorations. But it should be admitted that people were able to make containers at that time. In addition, red or yellow pottery vessels are common in Longshan culture, and metal wicker nails are often imitated in the mouth and crotch. If we think that the bronzes at this time have the same function as those in Xia and Shang Dynasties, then the bronzes at that time have already turned or have begun to turn to ritual vessels.

3. Bronzes are also unearthed from small sites, and ordinary residents also own bronzes. In addition, the bronze products of this period are unpretentious, even the patterned bronze mirrors are only geometric decorations such as the stars and stripes, and there is no mystery of the three generations of bronze decorations.

Second, the heyday:

The heyday was the bronze age of China, including Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn Period and early Warring States Period, which lasted about 1600 years. Bronzes in this period are mainly divided into ritual vessels, weapons and miscellaneous vessels. Musical instruments are also mainly used for sacrificial activities in ancestral halls. Ritual vessels were used for ancient sacrifices, or in temples, or for banquet washing, and some were sacrificial vessels. Bronze ritual vessels are sacred to some extent, so they can't be used in ordinary life occasions. Among all bronzes, the number of ritual vessels is the largest and the production is the most exquisite. Ritual vessels can represent the highest level of Chinese bronze production technology. The types of ritual vessels are cookers, food containers, wine containers, water containers, statues and so on. Bronzes in this period were decorated with the most exquisite and varied decorations.

One of the most common patterns in bronzes is gluttonous pattern, also called animal face pattern. This pattern first appeared on the jade of Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River 5,000 years ago, and Longshan culture in Shandong inherited this pattern. The gluttonous pattern itself has a strong sense of mystery. There is a cloud in the article "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" that "gluttony is harmful to one's health". Therefore, this animal face pattern is generally called gluttonous pattern. Gluttony patterns have existed on the bronzes of Erlitou culture. There are many types of gluttonous patterns in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, some of which are like dragons, tigers, cows, sheep and deer. There are birds, phoenixes and people. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the mysterious color of bronze ornamentation gradually declined. Dragon and phoenix are still the theme of many bronze patterns. It can be said that many patterns are actually evolved from dragons, snakes and phoenixes.

Cicada pattern is a common pattern in Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty. There were deformed cicada patterns in the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, dragon patterns prevailed and gradually dominated, crowding out almost all other patterns.

Another outstanding feature of ancient Chinese bronzes is exquisite workmanship, which shows the creative ability of ancient craftsmen. In ancient China, the method of casting bronzes with ceramic composite patterns was very developed. Fan Tao's material selection, mold turning and pattern carving are all superb, and the techniques of mud casting, separate casting, combined casting and stacked casting are all very mature. It is undoubtedly a great progress in bronze casting technology to develop the lost wax technology without separation casting.

The technology of inlaying bronzes to increase beauty has long appeared. The first inlay material is turquoise, a kind of green gem, which is still used in jewelry today. The second category is jade, including jade-assisted spears and jade-edged axes. The third kind of meteorites, such as iron-edged copper graupel and iron-aided copper-edged, were identified as shuotie. The fourth is inlaid with red copper, which is used to form animal-shaped patterns. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, bronzes decorated with gold and silver were also used.

During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, metallurgy and foundry technology developed rapidly, and a technical summary document, Kao Gong Ji, appeared. The book specifies in detail the proportion of copper and tin in bronzes used to make Zhong Ding, axe gold and Yi Ji. Due to frequent wars, weapon casting has developed rapidly. Wuyue's sword, in particular, is extremely sharp and famous all over the world, and there are some strong men, such as Ou and others. Although some swords have been buried underground for more than two thousand years, they can still be cut into piles of paper. Some swords, such as Gou Jian's, are chemically treated to form rust-proof diamonds, scales or flame patterns, which are extremely gorgeous.

Another feature of Chinese bronzes is that no portraits have been found so far. Many bronzes are decorated with human faces, such as Fang Ding's face and Yue's face, but these faces are not the faces of specific people. More artifacts are the overall image of people, such as humanoid lamps or candlesticks; Or take the whole person as a part of the utensils, such as a humanoid hand holding a sword on the clock stand and a few humanoid feet under the copper plate. Most of these humanoid figures are the costumes of male and female attendants, not the portraits of specific slaves. The three-dimensional figures and heads unearthed in Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sichuan are larger than normal people, with long ears and protruding eyes, high nose and wide mouth, full of mystery, and should be mythical figures.

Tens of thousands of bronzes in Shang and Zhou dynasties have inscriptions on them, which are now generally called inscriptions on bronze. For historians, it has played a role in proving and supplementing history.

Most of the inscriptions and characters of Chinese bronzes are cast. The word concave is called yin, and the word convex is called yang. In Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty, it can be said that inscriptions were all cast, and only a few examples were carved with sharp tools.

In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, completely carved inscriptions began to appear. In the mid-Warring States period, most of the inscriptions had been engraved. Even the three extremely heavy ritual vessels in Wang Han's tomb in Zhongshan, Pingshan, Hebei Province, are carved by deed, with extremely mature swordsmanship and high artistic value.

The ancients believed that bronzes were extremely strong and inscriptions could be circulated forever, so items to be circulated for a long time must be cast on bronzes. Therefore, inscriptions have become important materials for studying ancient history today.

Third, the transition period;

The transitional period generally refers to the period from the end of Warring States to the end of Qin and Han Dynasties. After hundreds of years of annexation war and political, economic and cultural reforms aimed at enriching Qiang Bing, Qiang Bing finally established a centralized feudal society, the traditional etiquette system was completely disintegrated, and iron products were widely used. Great changes have taken place in all fields of society.

The status of bronzes in social life is gradually declining, and most of the utensils are for daily use, but there are still some exquisite works of bronzes. For example, two bronze chariots and horses unearthed from the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang in Lintong, Shaanxi Province. The first one rode four horses, with a shed on the car and the charioteer. These two chariots and horses are made of bronze, which is proportional to the actual size and extremely beautiful. There are many gold and silver ornaments on the car right away, all of which are painted. The second horse riding, with a length of 3. 17 and a height of 1.06 meters, can be said to be the bronze ware with huge shape and the most complicated structure discovered so far.

By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ceramics had made great progress and played an increasingly important role in social life, thus further squeezing daily bronze utensils out of life.