Analysis of Dragon-shaped Decorations on Bronzes in Western Zhou Dynasty

As the peak of bronze manufacturing art in China, the dragon pattern of bronze wares in the Western Zhou Dynasty was particularly prominent in the pre-Qin period, and the dragon pattern is a very representative one among the ever-changing and varied bronze wares in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The origin, development and style of dragon-shaped ornamentation have their own charm and cultural and historical significance.

First, the origin of the dragon-shaped ornamentation on bronzes in the Western Zhou Dynasty. There is a legend about the appearance of the dragon image. After defeating Chiyou in the battle of Zhuolu, the Yellow Emperor was elected as the * * * master of the world by various tribes, so someone suggested creating a new totem. At first the Yellow Emperor didn't want to, but finally he decided to adopt it. The new totem source should be related to the totem of the tribe that defeated Chiyou with the Yellow Emperor, so the Yellow Emperor created a dragon with a horse's head, fish scales, antlers, eagle claws, snake body and sheep whiskers, which also marked that the Yellow Emperor brought all the nationalities in the world together and the Chinese nation was initially unified.

The illusion and species of dragons 1. Like many wild animals, the illusion of dragons has gone through the process from the initial illusion to the concrete visible pattern. Dragon is a primate among many beasts, and his illusion has a more bizarre story. In recent years, researchers have put forward some new ideas that hunting is the most important economic activity for human survival in the Paleolithic age, and animals occupy a very important position in people's minds. Some fierce carnivores, such as crocodiles, tigers, snakes and eagles, threaten the lives of ancestors, while some animals with strange ecology, such as birds and cicadas, surprise human beings. This fear and strangeness eventually developed into reverence, and after colliding with primitive religions and witches, immortals were formed.

There are many kinds of dragons. Zhang, a Wei native of the Three Kingdoms, divided dragons into four types in Guangya, namely, scaly dragons, pterosaurs, horned dragons and horned dragons.

According to the way of dragon's birth in Neijing, the dragon is divided into four types: fetus, egg, wet and chemical, that is, fetus, egg, wet and chemical.

From the function of dragons, we can divide them into four types: dragon, dragon, earthworm and dragon.

The Buddhist Sutra of Sumeru divides dragons into five types: snake dragon, the length of five dragons, which is normal, and four lateral types, such as dragon, Malone, ichthyosaur and frog dragon.

Divided into five elements, there are golden dragon, wooden dragon, water dragon, fire dragon and earth dragon.

From the perspective of region, water area and direction, there are East Dragon, South Dragon, West Dragon and North Dragon; Mountain Dragon, Long Yuan, Donglong, Jinglong, Quanlong, Xilong, Tiger Dragon, Tan Long, Waterfall Dragon, Dragon, Dragon, Dragon and Sea Dragon; Shanglong, Xia Long, Zuo Long and Youlong.

According to the morphological and state characteristics, there are Candle dragon, Xiaolong, Keelung, Keelung, Maolong, Horned Dragon, Li Long, Tailed Rocking Dragon and Elephant-nosed Dragon. Hidden dragon, Panlong sting dragon, walking dragon, leaping dragon, flying dragon, good dragon, sick dragon, poisonous dragon, lovely dragon, mighty dragon, evil dragon, stupid dragon, and so on.

As far as body color is concerned, there are black dragons, black dragons, yellow dragons, white dragons, red dragons, green dragons, Zi Long, Ban Long and colorful dragons.

According to family members, there are Dragon King, Dragon Mother, Dragon Son, Dragon Girl, Dragon Sun, Dragon Bo, Dragon Duke, Dragon Son, and so on. Dragons can also be divided into Yan Lu, Kiss, Pepper Map, Prison Cattle, Bulong, Gluttony, Sister-in-law, Changfeng, Baxia, Jin Wu, Tortoise Fish, Looking up to the sky, and so on.

Second, the relationship between various dragon patterns and artifacts on bronzes in the Western Zhou Dynasty. There are many kinds of bronzes in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and their classification methods are also varied. Generally, they can be divided into weapons, ritual vessels, musical instruments, washing vessels and miscellaneous vessels. Moreover, these artifacts sometimes have unusual uses, such as the cymbals in weapons, which act as a scepter. When Zhou Wuwang loggers took the oath in Konoha, they held yellow cymbals in their left hand and white cymbals in their right.

The dragon patterns on all kinds of dragon-patterned bronze ritual vessels in the Western Zhou Dynasty mainly include: gluttonous patterns, rich patterns, plain patterns, plain patterns, Yi Long, double-tailed dragons and so on.

Gluttony pattern: It is said that when the Huangdi clan finally defeated the Yan Di clan and became the patriarch independently, Shao Hao took the raptor as the totem, Chiyou Snake Dragon as the totem, and Tai Hao took E Long as the totem alliance.

There are many kinds of gluttonous patterns, which are increasingly decorated and beautified, weakening the ugliness of calendars, enhancing simplicity, gradually simplifying abstraction, and even separating simple geometric ornaments.

Kuiwen: It is said that Chiyou group takes snakes, crocodiles, cows, phoenixes, pigs and so on. As a composite totem, it produced a unique image logo of Kuiniu or Kuifeng.

Snake pattern: It is an approximately square pattern formed by small snakes densely winding and interweaving, and it was used to make gluttonous auxiliary patterns in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Its basic feature is that it is spread repeatedly in four directions, decorated constantly in pots, swords and other parts, changing in many aspects and having unified laws in many aspects.

Panlong pattern: this is developed from the totem of the ancient dragon ancestor Nuwa Snake Dragon, which is found in bronze decorations from Shang Dynasty to Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty; The prominent or lateral or frontal dragon head is centered, and the scaly snake body is coiled into an approximate circle, covering the surface or bottom of the vessel; After that, the changes of the robes of emperors and nobles were placed in the center of the clothes.

One-dragon: the dragon head is one-eyed, the snake body is folded in half, symmetrically combined, and repeated into two continuous belts, which are mostly decorated under the mouth of utensils.

The fusion of the two-tailed dragon and the dragon left dragon fat: these patterns are similar or slightly different, which may be a variety of patterns created by variants or the remains of the original totem.

The relationship between dragon and hierarchy was very low in ancient slave society. Today, ordinary copper was also very scarce at that time. Copper was also called gold in ancient times. Under that kind of social system and productivity, only gentry and nobles have the right and ability, and only they use bronzes as living utensils, ritual vessels and funerary objects. It is impossible for slaves to have rights, let alone carve pictures and ornaments on utensils.

Ding is the most important ritual vessel, which is divided into iron pot ding, rising ding and shame ding. It is Sheng Ding who shows aristocratic status. According to the system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, emperor Jiuding, vassal seven Ding, doctor Qing five Ding, Yuan three Ding.

Third, the development and influence of dragon ornaments Before the dragon was designated by the imperial power, all clans who advocated the dragon were free to use it and regarded it as their totem. However, in feudal society, dragons became the symbol of emperors and kingship. The more centralized the imperial power, the more restrictions the patriarchal clan system has on the use of dragon patterns.

The Chinese nation has come all the way from ancient times, taking the dragon as the national totem, endowing it with profound cultural background and spiritual connotation. The dragon patterns carved on bronzes, with their exquisite craftsmanship, exquisite modeling and historical and cultural significance, have become rare treasures in the treasure house of Chinese dragon culture.

Dragon and phoenix culture in Yan Deliang's mythology. Issue 06, 2007. Editor-in-Chief Li Mo talks about Chinese civilization Volume 1. Prehistory-eastern han dynasty. Guangdong tourism publishing house. In May, 2006, Duan Yong wrote a study on the fantasy animal patterns of Shang and Zhou bronzes. Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2003. 12. Explore China culture in Yamazaki. Century publishing group. Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, Li Xifan, June 2005.