Brief introduction to the history of bronze sword

A brief introduction to the history of bronze swords in China's cold weapons

Bronze swords began in Shang Dynasty. At that time, its leaves were generally short, shaped like willow leaves, and its production was relatively rough. After the late Spring and Autumn Period, the production of bronze swords reached maturity, and the story of "Gou Jian, the King of Yue" happened in this period. At this time, bronze swords are generally lengthened to 50 or 60 centimeters. A bronze sword is mainly composed of the body and the handle, and the so-called "handle" is the handle. There is also a raised partition between the hilt and the body to make a "grid". The more exquisite bronze sword has some decorations on the "lattice" to show the identity and status of the user. These decorations are usually made of jade, so this kind of sword is also called "Jade Sword". In the late Warring States period, with the rise of iron, bronze swords gradually declined. After the Western Han Dynasty, bronze weapons were completely replaced by iron weapons, and bronze swords withdrew from the historical stage.

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.

Bronze has the characteristics of low melting point, high hardness, strong plasticity, wear resistance, corrosion resistance and bright color, and is suitable for casting various appliances, mechanical parts, bearings, gears and so on.

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 smelting 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. 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 in ancient ceremonies. They are sacred and cannot be used in daily life. 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. 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. 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. King Yue's famous sword is also made of bronze.

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 costumes imitated by men and women, not 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.

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 the utensils are mostly for daily use, but there are still many exquisite works for some 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 kinds of 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. As for weapons, tools, etc. At this time, iron has occupied a dominant position. Bronzes in the Sui and Tang Dynasties are mainly all kinds of exquisite bronze mirrors, which generally have various inscriptions. Since then, there has been no development of bronzes except bronze mirrors. So this website's research on the development of ancient Chinese bronzes ended in Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Decorations on bronzes

Image lines of animals and plants

"Fan pattern" was named after the pattern coiled into a snake, which was popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Octopus is a poisonous snake recorded in ancient books, and it is called as small as a snake. "Plain grain" is only found in the Spring and Autumn Period.

"Elephant pattern" and "trunk pattern" are also common decorative patterns on bronzes. Image, communication. It is not only a docile large animal, but also a symbol of peace and auspiciousness, as well as the glory of "going out into the phase".

"Zombie pattern", also known as "hunting pattern" in the past, is a combination of animal facial images on bronzes transformed into ribbon decorative patterns. This decorative belt appeared in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and was popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

geometrical pattern

Geometrical figures refer to deformation patterns connected with diamonds, triangles and circles. Typical examples are: "circle band pattern" or "bead pattern", mostly auxiliary patterns, popular in Shang and Zhou Dynasties; "Triangular moire" is often interlaced with other decorative patterns, which was popular in the Warring States period. "rhombic diagonal lattice" is often mixed with "vortex pattern" and "s" pattern, which is popular in the warring States period; "Ring pattern", formerly known as "male pattern", is a continuous "S"-shaped wavy pattern filled with "stolen pattern" or ring pattern, which was popular in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. There has long been a record of "stealing pictures" in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals. There are many changes in "stealing patterns", such as curling into a double ring with one eye shape, bending both ends into a satisfactory head shape, and so on.

Significance of bronze: 1. The invention and application of bronze smelting technology greatly developed the metal smelting industry and promoted the social division of labor. Handicraft can be separated from agriculture. 2. The role of bronze smelting in the field of farm tools manufacturing: it promotes the innovation of agricultural production technology and improves social productivity. 3. Making weapons with bronze improves the combat effectiveness of the army. The use of bronzes in human life has improved people's quality of life and promoted the prosperity of culture.

distinguish

At present, the bronze swords that can be seen in the market are mainly in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which is also an unprecedented peak in the development of bronze wares. Of course, no matter how superb the bronze age is, it is also inseparable from Zhu Fan's fundamental technology, and so is the bronze sword. The difference is that in addition to the rapid development of casting technology, machining technology has also developed rapidly during this period. It is also widely used in post-casting processing of bronzes and weapons. When we identify bronzes and bronze weapons, we should not only consider the casting process and rust color, but also consider the information left by the post-casting treatment of the surface, so comprehensive judgment will be of great significance and reference value for authenticity.

One; We need to understand and correctly realize that all swords in bronze swords are made by subsection casting process, and the handle of the sword body can only be cast after the casting process is completed separately, otherwise the sword body can not be polished, because there is a grid, which is a big problem from the processing point of view, so the sword body can only be completed first. For common swords, such as bamboo handle and trumpet, they are generally cast integrally from lattice to handle, that is, the pattern is combined with the pattern of lattice handle and then cast again. The gate is generally olive-shaped, sometimes polished off at the lower end of the head, and most of the time it will be preserved intact. Both ends of the gate are just connected with the standard line on the side of the handle, because this is the combination of parting line and standard. For concentric circles, it is more complicated. Most concentric circles are cast in three stages, because concentric circles are cast separately. At the same time, we need to pay attention to a problem, that is, the grid of concentric swords. Basically, this grid is also inserted after casting separately, and gaps can even be seen on some concentric circles. That's the reason.

Second; It is the problem of model shedding corresponding to the model casting process and the characteristics of the sword body. Generally speaking, both the bamboo handle and the horn sword are cast twice, and the lattice part is cast integrally from the beginning, so the angle formed by the lattice part on the sword body must conform to the theory of casting fillet, otherwise it is difficult or even impossible to deviate from the model, so the angle of the genuine product is greater than 90 degrees; However, concentric swords are different. Concentric lattice is inserted after casting separately, and there is no problem of mold dropping. As far as unearthed objects are concerned, the included angle of these concentric circles is basically less than 90 degrees.

Third; Generally speaking, the blade is formed by longitudinal grinding along the ridge line, and the cutting edge is perpendicular to the ridge line. This cutting method is scientific, because under the magnifying glass, we will find that the blade is serrated, which is more destructive in terms of lethality. This knife method is still used in Xinjiang Uygur knives, so the Uighur knives with this knife method are very famous. The main reason is sharpness, followed by beauty, because the function and value of a knife is cutting. Of course, it is not necessary to use this sharpening technology for weapons such as swords or swords that are reground after use, because this sharpening technology can only be done by professional technicians, so weapons that are grinded twice or even many times after use will appear cross-grinding, which is not standardized, but we will still find some corners or unused parts through observation, that is, those that will not be grinded or need to be grinded later, and often leave traces of the first sharpening. There are basically two methods to polish the grid part.

Fourth; Generally, we ignore the post-casting polishing of the sword head. In fact, this is a key issue, because it involves the application of mechanical processing methods and reasonable and efficient processing skills at that time. Of course, this technique is closely related to the tools used at that time, and it is difficult to copy today. Almost all bronze swords have head machining. From what we have observed, the excircle of the head should be polished in a way similar to that of today's cars, so the traces we see are mostly annular along the circumference, as is the trumpet shape of the bamboo handle head. The processing marks on the physical objects are mostly circular along the circumferential direction, and generally speaking, most of them will not form a circular ring, but the basic polishing marks are obviously circular and staggered, but the whole is not messy, with obvious order and law. The diameter of the first horn circle is also 4 cm, and the positive and negative tolerance will not exceed 1 mm. Basically, what we measured is within 4 cm plus or minus1. As far as measured data is concerned, the tolerance is the most. So it can be considered as a customization standard.