Bronze process and its characteristics

As a Chinese, I'm sure you've all been to certain large and medium-sized history museums, however, in these museums, there is nothing more marvelous than the age-old bronzes. That's right, as one of the traditional cultures with a long history, the art of bronze has now become a distinctive symbol of China's history and civilization, and even in modern times we can still see a variety of products made through the bronze process. Today, I have compiled an article about the process of bronze craft and the characteristics of bronze craft, to lead you closer to this mysterious Chinese culture ......

Bronze Craft Emergence:

Warring States Bronze Zun Plate, Zenghouyi, Suizhou, Hubei. Zeng Hou Yi Tomb, Suizhou, Hubei Province, China. The zun is a wine vessel and the disk is a water vessel, and the zun was placed in the disk when it was unearthed. Bronze is the earliest alloy invented by mankind, which is far harder than red copper, and at the same time has excellent casting and forging properties. Originating at the end of primitive society, maturing and flourishing in the Shang and Zhou periods, bronze is the most ritualistic product in ancient China. Bronze before the Qin and Han Dynasties can be divided into three major groups: ceremonial vessels used for state and clan ceremonies, general daily utensils and burial vessels. In addition to specialized for the princes and nobles after the death of the burial of Ming ware, other bronze according to the use of the function, and can be divided into weapons, musical instruments, cooking utensils, eating utensils, wine, water, and horse and cart ornaments.

Swords, axes, battle-axes, gorges and other weapons were the bulk of the bronzes at that time. Chimes, Bo, etc. is a typical representative of bronze musical instruments, belonging to the category of ceremonial instruments, most of the casting exquisite. Din, li, etc. from the primitive cooking utensils developed from the cooking utensils, and later became the aristocrats, lords and kings and the son of heaven rituals, banquets, feasts and put the whole cattle, sheep, pigs and birds of the large ceremonial vessels. This kind of ceremonial vessels in the use of strict regulations, such as the son of heaven ceremonial occasions using nine tripod eight gui (gui is a kind of food utensils), the princes and dukes use seven tripod six gui, five tripod four gui, etc., in short, according to the title of the high and low in order of increasing and decreasing, and at the same time, the size of the type of vessel and the weight of the strict hierarchical limitations. Bronze wine vessels are the most varied, which may be related to the Yinshang people's addiction to wine. The earliest wine vessels that appeared were a group of vessels centered on the jue and goblet, including goblets, zuns, wine containers, jugs, goblets, earthenware jars, fiancées, ampoules, and square yi. Many of the zun and wine containers were also cast in the form of animal figures such as birds and beasts.

The earliest known bronzes in China are the small bronze knives found at the Lin family in Dongxiang County, Gansu Province, and the fragmented small bronze knives at Jiangjiaping, Yongdeng County, manufactured between 3000 and 2300 BC. As for brass fragments, they were found in the Yangshao culture site at Jiangzhai in Lintong, Shaanxi, around 4600 BC. A little later, during the Longshan culture, China entered the copper and stone era, when people were already able to make bronze containers.

Because bronze is an alloy of copper (red copper) and tin or lead, it has a lower melting point and increased hardness compared to red copper. Bronze containing 10% tin has a hardness of 4.7 times that of red copper. At the same time, the melted bronze in the condensation of the volume slightly increased, so the bronze castings filled with good, less porosity, has a high casting performance.

Stages of Bronze Craft Development:

To make bronze, you have to go through several stages, such as mining, smelting, casting, and finishing. Before casting, it is necessary to make a casting model - Fan (mold) - according to the shape and outline of the object. Bronze early use of simple single model, more complex is to use the upper and lower two pieces of Fan Fan casting, can be cast out of the flat body of the double-sided modeling of the object. If you want to make a three-dimensional shape with volume, it is necessary to use more than one piece of Fan, but also equipped with an internal mold, which requires the mastery of more exquisite skills. The decoration of a bronze object is first engraved on the mother of the van, then turned into a clay van, and then the van is closed and the object is cast.

By the above evolution of the bronze casting technology, the bronze process has gone through a single Fan to the Fan, and then developed into a multi-block Fan process. The production of bronze containers must master the process of multi-block combined fan, so the emergence of bronze containers, marking the bronze smelting and casting technology into a mature stage.

Bronze process:

In ancient China, several main methods of bronze manufacturing are block modeling, lost wax, casting method, and we know the welding method, the two casting methods more commonly used to this day are the "block modeling" and the "fire wax method". "When it comes to the raw material of bronze casting, it is very simple, it is bronze, which is an alloy of red copper and tin or lead. Here we take the block method as an example, the bronze process to do a comprehensive introduction:

Moulding

Moulding is also the meaning of the ancient books described as "mother of ceremonies", the prototype can be selected according to the preferences of the craftsmen, and at the same time, according to the container mold size and the degree of surface ornamentation. The size of the container mold and the degree of surface decoration for the Fan block. Once the inner and outer molds are made, they are then fitted together and left to cool.

Making of the model

We have to prepare the appropriate clay, and then make the inner and outer model, the clay can be mixed with some appropriate plant matter, such as grass and wood, etc., which is conducive to the air permeability of the inner and outer model.

Pouring

After the inner and outer molds have been made, the kiln is preheated, and molten copper is poured into the sprues at the bottom of the molds, which allows air pockets and magazines in the copper to settle on the bottom of the container.

Finishing

When the bronze is removed from the inner and outer fangs there is a certain amount of finishing that must be done to eliminate burrs, fly-aways and so on, and after such a delicate polishing the bronze will be even more refined.

Characteristics of the bronze process:

The biggest characteristic of the bronze process is very rich in traditional Chinese culture, "hieroglyphic ideograms", this craft concept handed down from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties is still used today, followed by the process of modification and coordination, this process is characterized by harmony and decoration. Secondly, it is the coordination of decoration in the process of craftsmanship, which is a symbol of harmony and decorative consistency. The last characteristic is the bizarre and strange beauty. This process characteristic is expressed in the design of decoration, pay close attention to it is not difficult to find, many bronze surface decoration is full of imagination.

Said so much, I believe that we have a clear understanding of the bronze process, which will take this knowledge to the museum to enjoy the art left behind by our ancestors!