Brief introduction of wrong gold

A common saying in the cultural and artistic circles

The gold and silver crisscross technique first appeared on bronzes in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and was mainly used for ornamentation on various utensils, chariots, horses, weapons and other practical utensils of bronzes.

The dislocation of gold and silver is a fine craft in China Bronze Age, but it appeared relatively late. Judging from the information currently available, bronze technology has developed for more than a thousand years, and it didn't flourish until the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period. It is the product of the development of ancient science and technology in China, but it was quickly welcomed by people as soon as it appeared. During the Warring States and Han Dynasties, a large number of bronzes with gold and silver crisscrossed appeared, which were widely popular in all fields of people's lives. Archaeological findings show that there are hundreds of bronzes with gold and silver interlaced during the Warring States and Han Dynasties. However, "to see the sun, for all his glory, buried by the coming night". For China's Bronze Age, it was just a gorgeous sunset glow.

First, what is "wrong"?

The word "gold and silver are not right" in ancient times or "gold and silver are not right" today is easy to understand, but the word "wrong" is not so easy for ordinary people to understand.

Chinese characters are the most meaningful characters in the world, and the word "wrong" is much more meaningful than ordinary Chinese characters. According to the interpretation of Kangxi Dictionary and Chinese Dictionary, it has at least ten different meanings. However, what is said here is that gold and silver are wrong, and the word "wrong" must be linked to gold and silver to make it clear; At the same time, we should also take people's interpretation of typos in the era when gold and silver are wrong. Otherwise, for thousands of years in the sky, it is also "the moon is lost, the fog is lost", and nothing needs to be said.

The Han Dynasty was the most popular era of gold and silver misplacement in China. What did people say at that time? Xu Shen, a learned scholar in the Han Dynasty, compiled a big dictionary called Shuo Wen Jie Zi, in which there is only one explanation for the word "wrong": "wrong, golden lacquer, from gold, past sound".

In the Han dynasty, when gold and silver were the most popular, all the explanations for the word "wrong" were only the above eight words, so it can be seen that the word "wrong with gold and silver" at that time meant painting gold and silver on bronzes. Duan Yucai, an outstanding exegetist in the Qing Dynasty, commented: "Tu, vulgar Tu, and Gong, that is to say, is also the gold standard." Therefore, in a broad sense, anything that arranges gold and silver patterns on objects can be called gold and silver fault. If the vest is embroidered with money, it is called "Jin Cuo Embroidered Fork" in Han Dynasty (Volume I of Miscellanies of Xijing). Those who make gold and silver patterns on lacquerware are called "golden lacquer mistakes" 1989 Cihai, edited by the editorial board of China Cihai and published by Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, gave the first explanation of the word "wrong": "wrong, painted with gold". Ornaments are decorative patterns. The interpretation of the word "wrong" in Kangxi Dictionary is to quote "Jiyun": "golden soil refers to the wrong". Therefore, today, after 2000, no matter how we explain the mistake of gold and silver, we must take the explanation before 2000, that is, when it was the most popular. And the interpretation of ancient and modern dictionaries is exactly the same.

Second, the decorative techniques of gold and silver staggered process

In ancient China, there were two main ways to make gold and silver patterns on bronzes.

1, mosaic method:

At present, some bronzes with gold and silver faults in ancient China are inlaid and decorated, also known as golden carving decoration. 1973, Shi Shuqing, a famous scholar in China, published an article "Gold Fault Technology in Ancient China" in "Cultural Relics", which mainly talked about this method. It is made in four steps: the first step is to pre-carve a groove for the master mold, so that the gold and silver can be embedded in the groove after the vessel is cast. The second step is gouging. "After the bronze casting is completed, the grooves need to be chiseled and finely decorated. It is necessary to draw a pattern on the surface of the vessel with an ink pen, and then cut a shallow groove according to the pattern. This was called engraving in ancient times, and it was also called engraving gold. " The third step is mosaic. The fourth step, grinding wrong. "After the gold thread or gold piece is inlaid, the surface of the bronze ware is uneven, so it must be polished with staggered stones, so that the gold thread or gold piece and the surface of the bronze ware are naturally smooth and achieve a perfect fit."

2, painting method:

This is the main decorative technique of gold and silver mistakes in Han dynasty. From the interpretation of the word "wrong" by Han people, we can see that "wrong, gold painting is also".

According to documents and unearthed objects, the main process of "gold plating" method is as follows:

(1) Manufacturing of "Golden Mercury Agent":

The manufacture of "gold amalgam" is a chemical process, that is, gold fragments are put into a crucible, heated to more than 400 degrees Celsius, and then 7 times as much mercury as gold is added to make it dissolve into liquid.

. The body is made of so-called "clay gold".

(2) Gold plating:

Use clay gold to draw various intricate patterns and ornamentation on bronzes, or draw in pre-cast grooves.

(3) gold roasting:

Bake with smokeless charcoal fire to evaporate mercury, and the gold pattern is fixed on the surface of bronze ware.

Today this method is called "gilding", but in ancient times it was called "golden fault". Because ancient picture decoration is also called "wrong". "Historical Records Zhao Shijia": "Tattoo, wrong arm and left leg". Original note: "It is said that Dan Qing painted his arm wrong". In ancient times, painting color was also called "wrong color". In Zhong Rong's poems, "Tang Huixiu said: Xie Lingyun's poems are like lotus water, and Yan () is like gold in the wrong color". Wrong color and golden carving are two different things: as mentioned above, the first mosaic method is the golden carving method mentioned by Shi Shuqing; The second method mentioned here, that is, the "golden lacquer" method, is "wrong color". If the whole object is colored with gold, there is no "wrong color" and no pattern, it is plain color, not "golden fault"

There was a special misplacement of gold and silver in the bronze craft of Han Dynasty. The workers in charge of this process are called "gold and silver paintings", which means articles and decorations. The so-called "gold and silver painting" is to draw patterns with gold and silver on bronzes. Because there was a system of naming objects in the Han Dynasty, in some inscriptions on gold, silver and bronze wares in the Han Dynasty, we can often see the names of works such as "gold and silver paintings", "yellow paintings" or simply "paintings".

Most of the existing bronzes in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties are made by this "gold and silver painting" method. We found that many exquisite gold and silver staggered bronzes praised by archaeologists and cultural relics experts had no dents where the gold and silver staggered patterns fell off. You can see at a glance that the pattern of gold and silver is not embedded, but painted. Such as 1987, the gold and silver staggered tiger swallowing deer platform unearthed from the tomb of Zhongshan King in Pingshan County, Hebei Province, is recognized as the masterpiece of gold and silver staggered. However, careful people will definitely find that a small piece of gold staggered pattern has fallen off the tiger's tail, but there is no dent in the falling place, knowing that it is not embedded, but painted. In addition, it is said that the wrong animal mirror unearthed from the Warring States Tomb in Jincun, Luoyang, Henan Province is also recognized as a fine product of gold and silver. But after careful observation, it is found that there is no dent in the place where the wrong gold falls off, and you can know at a glance that it is a "golden paint" method. Another example is the existing bird-patterned pot in Sacola Art Museum in the United States, which is recognized as a masterpiece of gold and silver, but there is no dent in the misplaced place of gold and silver, and you can know it is a "gold-plated" product at a glance. There are many such examples, too numerous to mention.

Third, the decorative theme and content of the gold and silver wrong craft

The decorative themes and contents of ancient gold and silver ornaments in China mainly include the following aspects:

1, inscription:

The inscriptions on bronzes appeared in the Shang Dynasty and were first cast, most of which were carved or chiseled in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties. But whether cast or chiseled, there is no difference between inscriptions and bronzes. Careless people sometimes turn a blind eye to inscriptions. However, since the Spring and Autumn Period, gold and silver crafts have risen, and people have carved words on bronzes with gold, making the inscriptions shine. As soon as people see the golden inscriptions on bronzes, they will enter your eyes first. Especially, after the bronzes have been buried underground for thousands of years, the surface has turned into a dark "blue lacquer ancient" or "black lacquer ancient", while the golden inscriptions have not lost their luster for thousands of years.

At present, the earliest gold, silver and bronze ware we can see is a Luan tree altar with a wrong gold inscription. It was in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, with a height of 48.4 cm, plain face facing the sky, shoulder-to-shoulder neck, and five lines and forty characters in gold. The main idea of the inscription is: In the first month of Ji Chun, Luan Shu made this device to worship ancestors, hoping that future generations would live longer. Luan Shu was a minister of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period and died in 573 BC. At present, we haven't seen any earlier bronzes with wrong gold.

Since the 6th century BC, the inscriptions on Jin Cuo have appeared, and since then they have been imitated and popularized for nearly a thousand years, with the peak period from the late Spring and Autumn Period to the Han Dynasty.

The dislocation of gold and silver itself is a decorative process. In order to pursue decorative beauty, the inscription has been changed from now on. The position of the inscription moved from the inside of the vessel to the surface of the vessel, and it was deliberately managed. Generally, inscriptions on bronze inscriptions use various artistic characters, among which wuyue Bird and Insect Book is the most widely used.

Bird and insect book, also called insect book, bird seal and bird brush, is a flower in seal script. It often uses insects and birds to form strokes, which are like books and paintings and are full of interest. The inscriptions in the book "Birds and Insects in the Golden Chamber" are mostly used on weapons from the Spring and Autumn Period to the early Warring States Period, but they are also found on pots and other containers in the Qin and Han Dynasties, such as the bronze pot with birds and insects in the Golden Chamber in Shanghai Museum and the bronze pot with birds and insects in the Golden Chamber unearthed from the Han Tomb in Mancheng, Hebei Province.

Although some inscriptions on inscriptions are not books of birds and insects, they also tend to be patterned and artistic. For example, 1957 unearthed in Shouxian County, Anhui Province, the Jin CuO E Qi Jun Festival in the Warring States Period was engraved with three or two characters of Jin CuO. The font is like grass, and the lines are slender and elegant. At the intersection of horizontal pen and vertical pen, dots are often dotted, like little stars, scattered between the lines, which is very beautiful.

2, geometric patterns:

Gold and silver bronzes are decorated with geometric patterns, among which geometric moire is the most common.

The geometric moire of gold and silver is different from that of bronzes in the past. Its main feature is that it not only has the bone method composed of strict rules inherent in geometric patterns, but also seeks changes in rules. If more thin and symmetrical moire vortex lines are used and the rotating thin vortex lines are connected with wider surfaces, this decoration is full of rhythm and rhythmic beauty, which is particularly fresh and lively. The innovation of geometric patterns is an outstanding artistic achievement of the gold and silver interlaced process in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties.

In addition, there are geometric patterns, such as diamond patterns, triangle patterns, thunder patterns and hook patterns, but they are not the main decorative patterns.

3. Animal patterns, hunting patterns and descriptions of eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, claws, hair and feathers on various animal-shaped bronzes.

In ancient China, the method of inlaying gold thread or gold sheet on the surface of metal objects. Also known as the golden fault. Embedding silver or copper is a mistake of silver and copper. The process is divided into three steps: grooving, inlaying and polishing. Mostly used for surface decoration of bronze or iron. Known unearthed in the Spring and Autumn Period are hunting beans inlaid with red copper in Hunyuan, Shanxi Province (as shown in the figure, beans: utensils and ritual vessels. ), Yin Bao, etc.

A special process. Mosaic patterns or words on utensils with metal wires. It also refers to the artificial products made by this method.