Types and patterns of bronzes

1. Ghost worship, ancestor worship and totem worship in Shang Dynasty

2. Gluttony patterns represent ghosts and gods.

3. Dragon tattoos represent ancestors.

Phoenix bird is their totem.

Bronzes are rich in decorative themes, including geometric patterns and animal patterns. By the mid-Shang Dynasty and the mid-late Western Zhou Dynasty, animal patterns in this period had produced a kind of animal decorative patterns based on fantasy through people's understanding and subjective processing of some animals in nature. Among them, gluttonous patterns, dragon patterns and phoenix patterns occupy the main position. This paper mainly analyzes and introduces these three kinds of fantasy animal patterns (of course, there are some other animal patterns) to see the fantasy animal patterns influenced by religious rituals and primitive totems in Shang Dynasty and their unique beauty.

Animal patterns are mainly decorative animal patterns based on animals. Animal types can be roughly divided into two categories, one is realistic animal type, with the most respect, such as elephant respect, sheep respect, cow respect and so on. A very important feature of it is its reality and vividness. The other is an imaginary animal type. There are also many bird heads and animal statues, four-legged light patterns of birds and animals and so on. Most of these animals are created by combining the typical characteristics of some animals. Most of them are horrible, grotesque and mysterious.

1. Animal grain

The animal face pattern is called gluttonous pattern in ancient times: (1) the legendary gluttonous beast. In ancient Zhong Ding, the shape of the head was carved on Yi vessels as decoration. "Lu Chunqiu", "Zhou Ding wrote gluttony, taking it as his body, cannibalism does not harm him, so he paid him more with words". (2) metaphor greedy and vicious people. "Zuo Gong Eighteen Years": "The Jinyun family has no talent, and they are greedy and take bribes from goods. Aggressive desires and luxuries, not excess and disgust; Gather together, accumulate facts, but don't know the truth. No matter who is widowed, there is no pity for the poor. " The world is fiercer than the third watch, which is called gluttony. "Du pre-note:" gluttony, gluttonous food. " Later, it also refers to greed for food. For example, greedy people.

This decoration is the frontal pattern of the heads of various animals or imaginary beasts. Later, it was called animal face tattoo, which was more accurate and clear than gluttonous tattoo. From Shang Dynasty to Western Zhou Dynasty, it was often used as the theme decoration on utensils. This name has been used from generation to generation since it was called gluttonous pattern in Bo Gu Atlas in the Song Dynasty.

There are different opinions about the shape of animal facial lines, such as cattle, sheep, tigers, deer and mandrills. Among these theories, gluttony is the most vocal. Many scholars engaged in the study of primitive culture and art believe that the gluttonous pattern is an exaggerated deformation of the tiger pattern. In ancient times, the tiger was also a very important god beast. Later, the figure of a wizard riding a tiger appeared in the cultural relics. In the long cultural history of China, there was a long stage of dragon and tiger worship before the worship of "Dragon and Phoenix". From the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, Long Hudou's pattern modeling was very popular, among which the Long Hudou figure unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb was the most exquisite and extraordinary. The ancients thought that the tiger was a yang beast, "the cloud follows the dragon and the wind follows the tiger." Fighting between dragons and tigers means intercourse between yin and yang. In the Han Dynasty, Black Dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu respectively represented the four astronomical officials in the Middle East, the West, the South and the North. At least, in the early history of China, the status of the tiger was not lower than that of the dragon. However, the description of the magical power of the tiger in ancient books is obviously difficult to compare with the prominent position of gluttony in bronze wares.

This shows that the animal face pattern does not represent an animal, but all the common patterns representing animals. These fierce animal images, which are composed of various beasts, set off a ferocious, mysterious, disciplined and dignified atmosphere.

Characteristics of animal facial lines:

Take the bridge of the nose as the center line, highlight the front shape, and arrange symmetrically on both sides. The first row at the top is the corner, and there are eyes under the corner. More specific animal facial lines also have eyebrows on the eyes, ears on the eyes, most claws, and a few simple forms have bodies or tails extending left and right. It can be said that all animal faces are basically shaped according to this model, but the animal shapes are different. Also known as "animal face pattern". It is also composed of two opposite Kuiwen. Its most prominent feature is its eyes: a mysterious force and fierce beauty ",which is the conclusion of contemporary aesthetician Li Zehou on bronze gluttony."

The main decorative objects of animal facial patterns:

Almost all bronzes are dominated by animal faces. Ding, the most prominent. Besides being a practical tool, the bronze tripod also has an important purpose, that is, as a ritual vessel. Animal face patterns mostly decorate objects with exaggerated animal faces and simple lines. I believe that this is closely related to people's religious beliefs and social patriarchal system at that time, and it is also the main basis for studying China's ancient society, economy and religion.

In the early Shang dynasty, the animal face patterns were mainly decorated with single layers. For example, in Erligang, the upper statues, heads and other objects have high relief sacrificial heads on their shoulders. One of the characteristics of this period is that all animal prints or other animal prints are not based on thunder patterns. In the early Shang dynasty, the geometric patterns were extremely simple, including some rough thunder patterns, single-row or multi-row beading patterns, and breast nail patterns. In the middle and late Shang dynasty, especially after moving to Yin, double-layer decoration began to appear. There are palindromes under the lines of animal faces. It is used to set off the animal face pattern and show its mystery.

The rulers of Shang Dynasty cast gluttony, advocated frugality and advised greed.

This is a political need, which has a lot to do with the low level of material production and the serious shortage of commodity supply at that time. It should be a long time for ancient people to change from egalitarian society to private ownership society. The idea of equality still has a great influence on people's minds. Coupled with the lack of material production, the rulers occupy a large amount of food, which will cause dissatisfaction among most people and increase the sense of social injustice. If they are frugal in diet, they will get people's support. Dayu was a positive model of that era, while Xia Jie was a negative model. Xia Jie's greed and luxury aroused people's anger and hatred. Therefore, when Shang Tang attacked, he said, "Xia's crimes are determined by destiny." "Xia is guilty, and his son is afraid of God and does not dare to be unjust." He destroyed the Xia Dynasty under the banner of "destiny". From people's hatred of Xia Jie's overeating, we can know that people are full of fear of hunger, and they can't think of anything more serious than "eating more" or "drinking more", so the condemnation of indulgence has become the most common voice in the whole society. This has become one of the leading political thoughts of feudal society dominated by natural economy in China for thousands of years. After the Shang Dynasty was established in Tang Dynasty, the merchants learned the lessons from Xia Dynasty, implemented the policy of "leniency for the people" and paid attention to the development of agricultural production. It also proves this point from the side.

At that time, the economy of Shang Dynasty was developed and there were many businessmen. Use gluttony to warn everyone not to be greedy. The historical legend of gluttony warns people to exercise due restraint in doing things. A person takes everything around him as his own chip, and then does whatever it takes to achieve his goal. Such people are terrible, just like gluttony. He pursued a wide range of desires and high standards, which hurt many people and did great harm. The symbolic meaning of gluttony is a good subject for moral education for future generations.

Gluttony is the medium of heaven and earth, the messenger of the connection between man and god, and a symbol of strength. You can even say that they worship ghosts and gods. The hideous beauty of bronze art mainly comes from the animal patterns carved on it, especially the animal facial patterns with long eyes, big ears and big fangs, which are called gluttonous patterns. "Zuo Zhuan" records: "Cast a tripod like a thing, prepare everything, and let people know that God is good." It can be seen that the ugly beauty of bronze decoration has greater social significance than aesthetic significance. The religious significance is very strong, so we have to admit the sacred status of gluttonous patterns in Shang Dynasty.

Bronzes in Shang Dynasty were mainly used as ritual vessels in religious sacrificial activities. Because in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, religious activities were particularly popular, one was divination, and the other was sacrifice. Especially in Shang Dynasty, there were many religious activities. The superstition of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty has reached its extreme. In addition, the central government has two major institutions: Qingshiliang, who manages government affairs, and Taishiliao, who presides over sacrifices. In ancient times, there was an original saying that "a businessman is still a ghost", and the exact words were proved by Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In the eyes of businessmen, the world of ghosts and gods is as real as the physical world, and the two worlds are closely related. Ghosts and gods are all around them, and all changes in themselves and the environment manipulate all their interests, good fortune and bad fortune, which requires them to constantly feed and bribe. In daily life, whenever there are things that can be hesitated or questions that can't be answered, we should obey the tortoise shell and ox bone as usual. The main component of the ghost world is their ancestors.

The number, frequency and richness of royal sacrifices to ancestors are beyond our imagination. Up to fifty sheep, three hundred cows or four hundred cows at a time. In the way of sacrifice, in addition to steaming in the kitchen or slaughtering raw food on the spot, some are burned with fire, or immersed in water, or buried in the soil. The date, type, quantity, method of sacrifice, and sometimes even the color of wild animals and fur must be asked by the diviner in advance from the ancestors who were sacrificed. The relationship between the merchant's mind and the world, you damn fool, can be seen from Pan Geng's second admonition to his subjects before he moved to the capital (which is recorded in Pan Geng's novella). Ancestors, merchants' gods, social gods dominated by earth, mountains and rivers, storms and silkworms, and "emperors" who dominate the gods, that is, gods. Fengshen is the messenger of God. He is a phoenix bird. The word "stroke" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the same as "phoenix". This shows that the worship of ghosts and gods in Shang Dynasty was far greater than others. As the most important decorative pattern, the gluttonous pattern is undoubtedly a symbol of ghosts and gods. Of course, sometimes businessmen compare their ancestors to ghosts and gods who manipulate all kinds of good and bad luck (or they often sacrifice their ancestors while sacrificing ghosts and gods). For example, two real dragon patterns are combined into a gluttonous pattern.

However, in the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, the animal decorative patterns that prevailed for hundreds of years suddenly withdrew from the main decorative pattern of bronze. However, several animal patterns, such as dragon, tiger, phoenix and turtle, which appeared on bronzes at the same time, appeared in official and folk cultures in the later cultural evolution, and became the most famous mascot and endless theme of artistic expression in China culture. Dragons, in particular, in the bronze age, mostly had the same ferocious face as gluttonous patterns. As far as mystery, power and status are concerned, dragons were far less than gluttony in the Bronze Age. However, the dragon later ascended the highest throne of China's cultural and political symbol, but "gluttony", the supreme of the Bronze Age, was hard to find.

2. Kuiwen, dragon pattern

Kuiwen: It represents a legendary animal similar to a dragon, with horns and feet, an open mouth and a curled tail. Say Wen Jianbu: "Hey, God is like a dragon's foot." Some kuiwen became geometric decorations. Mostly used as the main pattern on utensils. Dragon pattern: the pattern takes the image of the legendary dragon. There are basically three forms: flexion form, in which several dragons are intertwined and their heads are separated from the middle.

The characteristics of dragon pattern and Kuiwen: The dragon is an animal in ancient legends in China. Generally, the frontal image is centered on the nose, with eyes on both sides and the body extending to both sides. If its side is taken as an image, it forms a long body and a claw. The image of dragon originated very early, but as a bronze decoration, it was first seen in Erligang period of Shang Dynasty, and then there were different forms of dragon patterns in the late Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period.

The images of dragons in the eyes of the ancients are various, so the decorative patterns are also different. According to the pattern structure, there are climbing dragon pattern, rolling dragon pattern, intersecting dragon pattern (popular in Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period), double dragon pattern and double-tailed dragon pattern. One of the decorative patterns on bronzes.

Crawling dragon pattern

One of the decorative patterns on bronzes. Generally, it is the silhouette of a dragon, crawling, with the faucet open, the upper lip rolled up, the lower lip rolled down or up into the mouth, the forehead has a horn, the middle part is the trunk, and there is one foot, two feet or only flippers below. Simple or not, the tail is generally bent and rolled up. Most of them are symmetrically arranged. It prevailed in the late Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty. This embodies the figurative artistic style.

Curled dragon pattern

One of the decorative patterns on bronzes. The dragon's trunk is curled, end to end, or spirally coiled, and is often decorated in the center of the board. "Made by Li Yiyu": "The dragon scroll is a sacrifice." Zheng Xuan's Note: "Draw a dragon in clothes." Confucius said in Ying Da Shu: "The dragon scroll is a sacrifice, and the scroll is called the scroll. Draw this dragon shape and roll it on clothes to worship the ancestral temple. " In ancient times, people thought that dragons and snakes were the same kind, so dragons were painted in a coiled shape. This kind of decoration was found in bronzes from Yin Ruins to Warring States Period, but the image structure was different. This embodies the figurative artistic style.

Shuanglong pattern

Also known as "double-tailed dragon pattern". One of the decorative patterns on bronzes. Its shape is centered on the faucet, and the trunk is spread to both sides. This kind of decoration is band-shaped, so the body has enough space to expand, which is actually a symmetrical figure of the whole dragon. Prevalent in the late Shang and early Zhou Dynasties. Most of them are applied to Fang Yi or Fang Ding's mouth. One of the decorative patterns on the double-tailed dragon bronze ware. The faucet is in the middle and the two tails are on the left and right.

Kuiwen is also different, according to the pattern structure, there are two Kuiwen, triangular Kuiwen and so on. One of the decorative patterns on bronzes. One of the decorative patterns on two Kuiwen bronzes. Consisting of two ends. The head is usually upside down. Some are the same at both ends, and some are different. It was very popular in Shang Dynasty. One of the decorative patterns on triangular bronze wares. In the triangle, two faces are opposite, and the space is decorated with thunder patterns, mainly in the belly of the tripod and the tail of the knight. This embodies the figurative artistic style. In the early Shang dynasty, dragon patterns, real prose and gluttonous patterns were all single-layer decorations. In the late Shang dynasty, palindromes were the foundation, which highlighted its solemn sense.

The decorative position of Kui Wenlong:

It is mainly on both sides of the gluttonous pattern, or sometimes it is mainly gluttonous pattern.

Dragon pattern is the most auspicious and sacred decoration of the Chinese nation. Its image did not appear on bronze wares, but the germination of the dragon can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. In the bronze age, the image of a real dragon appeared. The early dragon pattern is: true dragon pattern. It is the synthesis of various animal images, and it is a strange and mysterious animal image produced by the creative imagination of the ancients. Its original prototype was mainly a snake, because there was a saying in ancient China that "the dragon is like a snake, the snake is like a dragon" and so on. But snakes are the main totem animals of the Chinese nation, because many of the ancestors of the Chinese nation are images of dragons and snakes with human faces. For example, the Yellow Emperor (named after the bear, with snakes and bears as totems) is the ancestor of the Chinese nation, and they are all animals with a face of dragons and snakes, which are widely respected and loved. The reason why the dragon is revered by the Chinese nation is that it is a magical animal with snakes as the main prototype, and it also combines the images of horses, cows, deer, tigers, elephants, camels, rabbits, fish and eagles, forming a strong totem worship of the dragon. The image of dragon is not uncommon in Shang bronzes. It abstracts every part of the performance and selectively strengthens it. For example, the hook mouth and beak are the enhancement of the eagle's characteristics, and so on. , all reflect a mysterious, dignified and solemn atmosphere. Like reptiles, it strengthens eyes, mouth and tail.

Legend has it that the appearance of dragons is related to water, and "Kao Gong Ji Ai Huashi" said: "Water is a dragon, and fire is love." The image of the dragon is used to symbolize the water god, and the ancestors of Shang Dynasty are revered as the water god by later generations. Therefore, there are many scrolls or three-dimensional images of dragons in bronze water vessels. This shows that the dragon pattern in Kuiwen represents the ancestors of Shang Dynasty. Ancestor worship, a prominent feature of China culture, has been stereotyped in this era. However, because the status of the dragon pattern of Kuiwen is far less than that of gluttony, the ancestor worship is far less than that of ghosts and gods.

3. Feng Niaowen

Bronze Fu is big in Feng Niaowen, small and short in business.

Phoenix bird: Phoenix first appeared in the Book of Songs, and was originally the "Phoenix Emperor". In the Han Dynasty, Mao Heng interpreted it as "the male is the phoenix and the female is the emperor". Phoenix and dragon were auspicious animals in ancient times. "The fate of a mysterious bird leads to the birth of a business." Shang Qing is a poem praising the first generation of the Song Dynasty and recording the legends of ancient businessmen. The mysterious bird is a swallow, which can be regarded as a totem of businessmen. "Lu Lan Yin Chu" said: "Is it?" I have two beautiful daughters, who account for 90% of the table. I will beat drums to eat and drink, and the emperor will show me. If they sing, they will fight for it, and they will be covered with jade baskets. They have few choices, just look at them. Yan Xi will leave two eggs and fly north, so they won't object. "Gao Zhu said," Is there a destiny to swallow eggs? "Stone, women swallow property deeds." Historical Records Yin Benji said that the ancestors of Shang clan were deeds, but what about Zhu Die, the mother of deeds? The daughter of this family, the second princess of Di Ku (according to this, it was attached later), "I saw a mysterious bird drop its egg when a threesome took a shower, and Judy picked it up and swallowed it because it was pregnant." Chu Ci Tian Wen also said, "What should Zhu Di do in Taiwan Province? Is it commendable that a mysterious bird brought a maid? " It can be seen that the legend of giant butterfly comes from the old books in pre-Qin period. In ancient times, phoenix bird was the representative of bird totem. Totem worship in Shang Dynasty.

Shang bronzes went to Feng Niaowen.

The original image of the phoenix is a mysterious bird. Like the dragon, it is also an animal imagined by the ancients and a god bird created by combining various animal images. Its feathers absorb the image characteristics of peacock, and its sharp claws are taken from the fiercer eagle. In addition, it also absorbed some other animal image components, such as animals, fish, snakes and so on. There is a description of the phoenix in Han Shi Zhuan. "The husband and phoenix are hung with scales on the front, fishtail on the snake neck, turtle body with dragon pattern, and pecking at the chicken." It also absorbed and integrated the cultures of other clans. But there are many changes in the phoenix pattern here, which can give people a sense of mystery compared with the real dragon pattern. The dragon pattern and the gluttonous pattern mentioned above are all combined with various totem images, which requires sorting out, simplifying and abstracting the typical features of all totem images. The integration of primitive totems creates a sacred and dignified religious atmosphere, while people's imagination of a god can also increase people's worship of totems and maintain their mystery, which is also a pattern of abnormal combination.

Feng Niaowen features: One of the decorative patterns on bronzes, the bird pattern of Shang Dynasty has many short tails. A bird's long feathers hang down or its long tail rolls up to look forward or backward. Most of them are symmetrically arranged on bronzes. Birds are mostly small and rarely dominant. The jade cong unearthed from Liangzhu culture has clear bird patterns. The earliest appearance on bronzes was the deformed bird pattern in Erligang period. Bird pattern has always been the main decorative pattern of Yin Ruins.

Around the gluttonous pattern is the seat of Feng Niaowen, Feng Niaowen in Shang Dynasty: it is decorated in the neck, mouth, abdomen and feet of Ding, Gui, Zun, Gui, Gui, Gui, and pot. According to the image of composition, Feng Niaowen can be divided into: long beak with bird pattern, long beak with bird body and head; Owl pattern, forehead, big round eyes, hairy horns and big wings prevailed in the middle and late Shang Dynasty. Feng Niaowen was far inferior to Kuiwen with dragon pattern in culture, economy and sacrifice. So ancestor worship at that time was far greater than totem worship. Feng Niaowen designed his totem.

4. Palindrome (some are also called Yun Leiwen)

Ripple is a kind of deformed line stripe, which is often used as a shading to set off the main pattern. Moire is composed of soft convolutions, and the plus square angle of convolutions is thunder, which prevailed in the middle and late Shang Dynasty. Hook-and-lightning pattern: It is formed by connecting T-shaped lines with each other. Palindrome includes printing, stamping, marking and painting. And the composition is usually developed in a four-way continuous or two-way continuous way. It appeared in the late Neolithic period and may have developed from the vortex pattern. Until the late Shang Dynasty, there were relatively few palindromes, but they were still the main decorative patterns on white pottery, hard pottery and primitive celadon in Shang Dynasty. A large number of palindromes appeared on bronzes in Shang and Zhou dynasties, which were mostly used as ground patterns to set off the main patterns. In the Han dynasty, with the decline of bronzes, the stripes on ceramics also disappeared.

5. Vortex mode (flame mode)

The fire pattern vortex pattern on the bronze tripod of Shang Dynasty is also called fire pattern. As the name implies, it is similar to a water vortex, so it is a vortex pattern. It is characterized by a circle. The inner ring is decorated with a rotating arc along the edge. There is a small circle in the middle, which seems to represent the uplift of water. There are five semicircular curves next to the circle, which looks like water vortex stirring. Some people think that the vortex pattern is shaped like the image of the sun, also known as the fire pattern. The vortex patterns in the early Shang Dynasty were single and continuous, and generally alternated with dragon patterns, eye patterns, bird patterns, tiger patterns and cicada patterns from the middle and late Shang Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Vortex patterns are mostly used in the shoulders and abdomen of cans, ding, yi and bu, which were popular in Shang and Zhou dynasties.

6. Nail pattern

Nail pattern: one of the simplest decorative patterns on bronze wares. Nipples with convex patterns are arranged in a single line or a square matrix. There is also a pattern, that is, putting the breast nail in a diagonal square, which is called diagonal square breast nail pattern.

7. Silkworm grains

Silkworm food: also called snake food. It has a triangular or round triangular head, protruding eyes, a scaly body and a flexed body. Most of them are decorated on the mouth or feet of utensils. Found in Shang bronzes.

8. cicada pattern

Cicada pattern: the pattern is mostly triangular cicada body, without front and back feet, and it is full of palindromes around. Some are very long, with front and back feet and palindromes in the middle. There are two kinds of cicada patterns: one is horizontally banded or vertically continuous linear arrangement, which generally has cicada feet and is decorated with themes; Cicada body appears in another geometric pattern, mostly triangular, generally without cicada feet, big eyes, similar to the Yangtze River Delta, with knotted lines in the abdomen, often lined with palindromes. This kind is often used as an accessory to the main pattern. Cicada patterns prevailed in the late Shang and early Zhou dynasties.

9. Tiger pattern (cannibal pattern)

The tiger's mouth is wide open with a head in its mouth. This terrible image of cannibalism gives people a sense of spiritual oppression to show the hegemony and cruelty of the ruling class. Generally, it is the shape of a tiger crawling or running sideways. The tiger's mouth is wide open, its back is slightly concave, its tail hangs down, and then it rolls up. Most of them are decorated on Ding, Zun and other weapons, as well as Yue, Ge and other weapons. Tiger pattern was popular until the Han Dynasty, but it was rare in the Shang Dynasty, and it was found on the ear of Simuwu cauldron.

10. Niu Wen

It is more than the neck and waist of the utensils, and the shape of the whole cow is made. Cattle are round and fat, with a big head, one or two horns on the head, and most of the front feet lie on their knees, but full-shaped cattle lines are rare. Generally speaking, cow's head patterns are common, some of which are made in the shape of cattle, such as rhinoceros, and the cover of cow's head relief or the end of hanging beam, such as the cow's head unearthed in Liu Lihe.