How to distinguish the lines on bronzes?

The decorative patterns of ancient Chinese bronzes were mainly concentrated in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Here, Mr. Yang briefly combs it, and then focuses on the difference between the literary and the, the gluttonous pattern and the animal face pattern.

First, the bronze decoration of Xia Dynasty

In addition to the origin, round blocks and geometric patterns, the decorative patterns of bronze ritual vessels in Xia Dynasty are mainly ivory patterns, which are mostly decorated on Jue and Yun vessels.

(Duchess of the Late Xia Dynasty)

(You Dingwen at the end of summer)

Second, the bronze ornamentation of Shang Dynasty.

① Early Shang Dynasty

The early bronze ware patterns mainly used animal face patterns.

So-called? Animal face pattern? That is to say, decorative patterns show positive images including various animal heads, because there are many kinds and diverse images.

And then what? Gluttony? It is a ferocious beast with Kubinashi's body recorded in ancient mythology, which is composed of many positive images of mammals with fixed patterns.

Simply put, gluttony? what's up Animal face pattern? This title can be used to summarize all animal face decorations, which is equivalent to a symbol.

(Animal face tripod in the early Shang Dynasty)

The animal face patterns in this period are implicit and symbolic, and even the most typical animal eyes and horns do not deliberately emphasize the difference. The eyes are replaced by a pair of dots, and the corners even adopt small hook stripes that are difficult to attract attention.

② Mid-Shang Dynasty

Animal face patterns are still used, but their decoration is further strengthened. At the same time, on the shoulders of some large objects, there will be reliefs of sacrificial heads or sheep heads, such as Zun and Jia. Taking the animal face pattern as an example, the change is extremely obvious. The wide line animal face pattern is replaced by dense line, and the lines are drawn more accurately.

(beast-faced tripod in the middle of Shang Dynasty)

One phenomenon is that the angle of the top of the denomination of the animal head is greatly expanded, showing a sense of majesty; Another phenomenon is that the inner corner of his eye becomes bigger, which makes his eyes more fierce.

③ Late Shang Dynasty

Animal face patterns were still used in the late Shang Dynasty, but bird patterns and dragon patterns arranged on both sides of the animal face patterns in the middle period were also used. At this time, geometric patterns have also developed by leaps and bounds, such as the thunder pattern of adhesive tape, nipple thunder pattern or triangle thunder pattern.

(Ruding Wen Ding in the Late Shang Dynasty)

Take the animal prints as an example, the latter ones are easier to distinguish, because their eyes, noses, mouths and other shapes are generally similar, but various exaggerated angles are the main signs to distinguish different animal prints.

(Fang Ding, a cow in the late Shang Dynasty)

The same,? Gluttony? It is also more perfect, among which those with little or no torso are called gluttonous lines with Kubinashi's body. Is it true?/You don't say. Animal face pattern? The result of simplification of the pattern itself.

Third, the bronze decoration of the Zhou Dynasty.

Businessmen worship ghosts and gods, while Zhou people worship etiquette. Therefore, the animal face pattern of the ugly calendar in Shang Dynasty was selected and transformed by Zhou people.

The main features of the animal face pattern are preserved, but the composition is more Shu Lang, the lines are softer, and it is not as majestic and powerful as the Shang Dynasty.

(Early Western Zhou Dynasty)

In addition, the themes mentioned by Feng Niaowen also appeared in large numbers in the Western Zhou Dynasty, perhaps related to? Zhou people made their fortune in Qishan? No, it doesn't matter.

(Early Western Zhou Dynasty in Fang Ding, Feng Niaowen) The phoenix bird was decorated on all sides.

Finally, let's take a look at the real dragon pattern mentioned by the subject:

(Early Western Zhou Dynasty and Solanum nigrum Wending)

To sum up:

It's difficult to distinguish animal face patterns from gluttonous patterns, but Feng Niaowen and Solanum nigrum patterns are completely different, so it's easy to distinguish them.

Finally, if the subject wants to have a clearer understanding of Chinese bronzes, I recommend a series of books, The Complete Works of Chinese Bronzes (Volume 16 (Cultural Relics Publishing House 1996)), which will certainly benefit a lot!