What are the styling characteristics of ancient Chinese bronzes?

What are the styling characteristics of ancient Chinese bronzes\x0d\Ancient Chinese bronzes have a long history, splendid and brilliant, with timeless historical and artistic value. Heirlooms and a large number of bronzes found in recent years show that the bronze itself has a complete development and evolution system. Since the Xia, Shang, Zhou to Qin, Han the whole history of bronze development, can be divided into thirteen periods: that is, summer for the Erlitou culture period, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn for the early, middle and late three periods, the Warring States period for the early and middle and late two periods. Qin and Han for the afterglow of the history of bronze development. The characteristics of each period are summarized as follows:\x0d\\ The Erlitou culture sites in the western part of Henan have been found in dozens of places. The excavated sites also include Zhengzhou Loda Temple and Shangjie, Shanxian Qilipu, Luoyang Donggangou, Linru Coal Mountain, Xichuan Xiawanggang and other places. Shanxi Fen River downstream survey found more than thirty sites of the Erlitou culture, Xiaxian East Feng site has been excavated. But the scientific excavation of the Erlitou culture bronze ceremonial vessels, concentrated in Yanshi Erlitou unearthed, Henan's Xinzheng Wangjinglou and Shangqiu area, there are individual discoveries. \x0d\ Scientific excavations of the Erlitou culture period of bronze ritual objects, now limited to drinking utensils Jennifer. The basic features are a narrow and flatter flow, a short, pillarless tail, or a pillar-like prototype, and a flat base. The body is relatively flat, the lower bearing three feet. The body type is divided into long body girdle type, long body segmented type and short body girdle mode and so on several kinds. Foot has two types of long and short, long feet for triangular pointed cone, short feet for triangular segmented shape, some short feet may be the use of erosion. Some of them are hollowed out, which is a characteristic of the Erlitou culture period. \x0d\ Erlitou culture bronzes are generally not decorated, but some Jennings have a row or two rows of rounded nail-shaped decoration on the front of the cup. Some have a round cake-like protrusion on the belly, when it is the promiscuity of the Erligang period on the cause of the pattern. Although the Erlitou culture on the bronze ritual objects did not see animal-shaped decorations, but Erlitou excavated the interior of the bronze go, there have been deformed animal motifs, and thus can not be ruled out the possibility of the appearance of animal motifs on the bronze ritual objects. \x0d\\ Early Shang Dynasty 16th century B.C. - mid-15th century B.C. \x0d\\\x0d\equivalent to the period of Shang Erligang culture. Zhengzhou Mall rammed earth in charcoal dating carbon 14 for 1620 BC, coinciding with the period of Shang Tang statehood, but the lower limit of the Erligang culture is not quite clear. The remains of Erligang are divided into two layers, and the difference between the upper and lower bronzes does not belong to the stylistic aspect, but rather to the fact that the upper layer has more development of the types of wares than the lower one. Many early Shang dynasty bronzes were unearthed in Zhengzhou, due to the fact that Zhengzhou Mall was the capital of the early Shang dynasty. Important ones are the tombs or cellars at Erligang, Baijiazhuang, Zhangzhai Nanjie, Yangzhuang, Nan Guanwai, Minggong Road, Erqi Road and other places. They are roughly distributed in the south and southeast corners of the city center. In the northeast and west of the city, there were also cemeteries where bronze vessels were buried. A number of early Shang Dynasty bronzes have been found in northern Henan. Important discoveries were also made in Huangpi Panlongcheng in Hubei, Jiashan Pogang in Anhui, and Wucheng in Qingjiang, Jiangxi. The early Shang Dynasty bronzes found in the above sites and tombs are mostly from the upper layer of Erligang. \x0d\ Early Shang Dynasty bronzes have a unique shape. Din, li and other food utensils three feet. There must be a foot and an ear in a perpendicular line, in the visual sense of imbalance. Ding, _ and other columnar foot into a cone-shaped foot and the belly of the vessel connected, this is due to the time has not mastered the casting of the core of the Fan fully closed skills. The square tripod is huge, and the vessel part is made in the shape of a square deep dipper, which is completely different from the rectangular trough-shaped square tripod of the Yinxu period. The shape of the jue inherited the Erlitou culture style, - law for the flat body and flat bottom. The stream is very narrow and long. In addition to the flat-bottomed bronze _, there were also pouch-footed _. Goblet, zun, ampoule, _ and other footrims have +-shaped holes, rather than the upper Erligang ware, + shape has become a large square hole. Some even have several notches in the rim of the footrim, examples of which have been excavated at Zhengzhou and Huangpi Panlongcheng. The half-capped pouch feet _with a large _executable_ on the back side, placed obliquely on the top of the tube flow, are quite distinctive in this period. All are narrow-lipped, high-necked, and shouldered, and are also high in form. Early Shang dynasty pots with a beam have a long neck, small mouth, bulging belly shape and small mouth body in the shape of a hanging gourd of two kinds, there are also small mouth neck is not high without a beam. The main body of the early Shang dynasty bronze decoration has been animal face pattern, to the rough hook curved back and forth line composition, all deformation pattern, in addition to the beast eye round, thought \x0d\ symbol, the rest of the stripe is not a specific representation of the various parts of the object, decoration, more than flat carving, the individual main line appeared in relief, the two Rigaoka upper Zun, _ and other vessels on the shoulder has been in high relief ?? head decorations. All the bestiary or other animal motifs are not grounded in leiwen, which is a characteristic of this period. The geometric patterns of the early Shang period were extremely simple, with some crude lei patterns, as well as single or multiple columns of continuous bead patterns, and nipple patterns had also appeared. \x0d\\ Early Shang Dynasty bronzes, very few inscriptions, previously thought that the individual on the tortoise shape is the text, in fact, is still decoration rather than text. \x0d\\\ Middle Shang Dynasty Mid-15th century B.C.\x0d\\\13th century B.C.\x0d\\\x0d\ Between the Shang Erligang culture period and the Yinxu culture period, there were several batches of bronzes unearthed. These wares have certain early Shang characteristics, yet have evolved more; they also have the origin of certain Yinxu period bronze features. More typical are a group of bronzes unearthed in the lower tombs of Taisi in Gaocheng, Hebei region, the bronzes unearthed in Shang Dynasty tombs in Liu Jiahe, Pinggu, Beijing, and the bronzes unearthed in Funan and Feixi regions of Anhui. They were also unearthed in Lingbao Dongqiao in western Henan. In the first phase of the Yinxu culture, there were such artifacts found, such as a group of bronze artifacts unearthed in Xiaotun Tomb No. 232, and some of the bronze artifacts unearthed in Xiaotun Tomb Nos. 331 and 333, and so on. However, not many of these artifacts were found in Yinxu, while some of them were more typical and better than those in Yinxu in other areas, and there is still no Shang metropolis that produced such bronze artifacts like Erligang or Yinxu. The capital of the Shang dynasty before Pan Geng moved to Yin was in Ami, and earlier in Pihe Xiang, but after the Erligang period and before the Yinxu period, these bronzes existed objectively. Because these bronzes have the transitional characteristics of the early to late period, so some will be broken in the Erligang period, some broken for the early Yinxu culture. The distribution of these bronzes was extensive, and the center of their production was not in Yin, so it is necessary to draw a stage called the middle of the Shang Dynasty after the Erligang period and before the mature Yinxu period. The upper limit of the middle Shang period is not easy to determine; the lower limit is about before Wuding. \x0d\\\\x0d\\ This period is close to the early period in the form of jerks, goblets, _ and so on. Although the end of the jue is similar to that of the early period, the flow has been relaxed, and the appearance of a rounded jue is unseen in the put. In addition to the empty vertebral foot, the appearance of the Ding-shaped foot, the bottom of more downward dropsy, flat bottom has been less common. Early although there has been a broad-shouldered large mouth Zun, this kind of shape at this time there is a greater development, such as Funan's dragon and tiger Zun and animal-faced Zun such a thick and majestic shape, in the early Shang Dynasty is never seen. Ampoule this kind of shape, also is the development of this period, gao cheng's animal face pattern ampoule is its typical. Early taller _, in this time developed into a proportionally lower body and broad shoulders of the style, the Palace Museum collection of the giant animal-face _ is its typical. The +shaped and square holes in the footrims of vessels of this time are somewhat reduced as compared with those of earlier times. Ding, li class ware is more prominent change is no longer an ear and - foot opposite, forming an imbalance, but three feet and two ears symmetrical, became the fixed format of all later tripod, but at this time the casting of the core of the Fan suspension sealing method has not yet been fully resolved, and thus the hollow tripod feet and the belly of the vessel connected to the situation. \x0d\ ornamentation is divided into two categories, one is the Erligang period of deformation of the animal pattern of the improvement of the original rough lines become finer and dense, a stream such as Pinggu animal face tripod and Feixi _ and Jennifer, and Funan Longhu Zun and Jiashan Pogang of the main pattern of the animal pattern has been more fine, the animal face on the foot still maintain the structure and style of the early. The second category is the emergence of the beast-face pattern composed of dense thunder pattern and neatly arranged feather pattern. This kind of animal face pattern eyes tend to protrude. If not carved in relief, there is no clear distinction between either the head or the body. The actual examples in this regard, such as the ampulla of Gaoxiong and the large _ in the collection of the Palace Museum, have used more high relief attachments, but the line outlines have a sense of roundedness, which is different from the style of the late relief carving with its steep and sharp contour lines. \x0d\\\ mid Shang Dynasty bronzes generally still maintain the habit of not casting inscriptions, but individual ware found cast with the maker's own clan emblems, but not found to be sacrificed to the ancestral test of the name of the day stem. \x0d\\\\\x0d\\ late Shang dynasty 13th century BC to 11th century BC \x0d\\\x0d\ from Wuding to Dixin. The archaeological staging of the Duanxu culture generally adopts Zou Heng's four-phase statement, that is, the first phase of Pan Geng to Xiao Yi, the second phase of Wuding to Zu Jia, the third phase of Xin to Wending, and the fourth phase of Di Yi Di Xin. Subsequent discoveries, by and large, have not crossed this boundary. The Yin ruins of the bronze staging Zhang Changshou's three said that the first PanGeng to WuDing, the second Zugeng to KangDing, the third WuYiDiXin. In addition, there are - some other sayings. \x0d\ The Records of the Grand Historian (史记). Yin Benji" Pan Geng to Wuding in more detail, Yang A, Yin decline, Pan Geng five move to the small Xin again decline, to Wuding got Fu said for the phase, and then to make the "Yin Road to revitalization". The so-called decline of Yin refers to the loss of control of the Shang king over the vassals, the vassals do not Chao, that is, not subordinate to the political, economic not tribute, and thus the decline of the state power. And Yin ruins highly prosperous bronze culture, must be in the wu ding's wu kong wenzhi operation for a considerable period of time can be achieved, wu ding - that is, the throne can not immediately appear Yin ruins bronze culture of high development. Therefore, this era, may be the middle of the Shang Dynasty bronzes and late bronzes of the alternating period. \x0d\\\\x0d\\\c Important archaeological data on late Shang Dynasty bronzes are represented by the excavations of Tomb No. 5 in Yinxu, Tomb No. 18 in the North of Xiaotun Village in Yinxu, the Big Tomb in Wuguan Village, the Big Tomb in Northeast Heights and the Big Tomb No. 1040, the Round Burial Pit in Xiaotun, and so on. There are also bronze artifacts unearthed from the burial complexes in the western area of Yinxu. Other areas are equivalent to the excavated territories of late Shang Dynasty bronzes. Important ones are the late Shang Dynasty tomb complexes in Yidu Sufutun in Shandong, Yonghe, Liulin, Baode and Shilou in Shanxi, and Qingjian, Suide and Wubao in Shaanxi, which are of a certain local color, mainly belonging to the late Shang Dynasty's bronze culture area. Late Shang bronzes have been unearthed many times in Huangzai and Yue Shan in Ningxiang, south of Dongting Lake in Hunan Province, while late Shang bronzes have been unearthed in Liling, Changning, Xiangxiang, Hengyang, Xiangtan as well as Wuming in Guangxi. The distribution of Shang Dynasty bronze culture is very wide, and the locations where late Shang Dynasty bronzes have been unearthed, are not few. \x0d\\\ The late Shang Dynasty, such as the late Wuding from the start, to Di Xin may be close to two hundred years or less than two hundred years, in such a long period of time, according to the specific circumstances, \x0d\\ and can be distinguished as before and after the two phases. \x0d\\\\\x0d\\\ The first part of the Yinxu period \x0d\\\x0d\\ is represented by the bronzes unearthed in Xiaotun Tomb No. 238, Yinxu Tomb No. 5, and Xiaotun Village North Tomb No. 18, and the others in other areas are represented by the bronzes unearthed in Erlangpo Peach Blossomers in Shanxi, Erlangpo, Houlanjiagou, and Ningxiang Huangzai in Hunan Province. Newly excavated shapes include square Yi, high necked ellipsoidal flattened body jugs, open-mouthed bunch-necked ellipsoidal flattened fan body goblets, goblets, and so on. \x0d\\\\x0d\\\ square Yi in Xiaotun Tomb No. 238, Yinxu Tomb No. 5 even unearthed "even square Yi", even square Yi external shape like two square Yi merged, inside a rectangular groove. \x0d\ high neck ellipsoidal flat pots in the Yinxu No. 5 tomb, wide mouth and ellipsoidal flat, high neck, expanded abdomen, neck on both sides of the pierced ears, under the foot, some have a cover, \x0d\ Shilou Peach Blossom Flat pots with dragon-shaped lifting beams. These flat pots were popular in the late Shang Dynasty, but rapidly disappeared in the latter part of the period. \x0d\\ Open-mouthed, necked elliptical flattened goblets are found in Tomb V of Yinxu. Some of them have no cover, and the necks are not very small, but there are also different practices of width and width. Most of the vessels are small, but some are of medium size. Another kind of goblet with an open mouth and a rounded neck that looks like a cup also appeared around this time. The above two types of goblets are found in a large number of heirlooms. \There are two types of goblets, one in the form of birds and animals and the other with a rounded foot, all of which are found in Tomb No. 5 of Duanxu. At this time, goblets commonly had the shape of birds and beasts, such as the Wuhao goblet with a tiger in front and a lord in the back, and the Simu Xin goblet with a monster in front and a strange bird in the back, and thus the goblet's front foot is not the same as the back foot. The United States florida museum of fine arts also has a front for the tiger after the duck-shaped and flat pecked animal and bird amalgamated goblet. The amalgamated shape is one of the characteristics of the design of the goblet at that time. A horn-shaped goblet unearthed in Shilou peach blossomers in Shanxi is a special case of goblet. \x0d\new also bird and animal shaped zun, such as women's good bird zun, Hunan Xiangtan unearthed pig zun, liling unearthed elephant zun, are new forms, the container made into an animal is unprecedented. There are also designed as half-container half-animal style, such as double sheep Zun, the center is Zun-shaped, flanked by sheep's head, a special shape. It is worth noting that square vessels were greatly developed at this time, and the ones unearthed in Tomb No. 5 of Yinxu include square jars, square _, square zuns, square _, square jugs, square percussions and so on, while there are also square goblets and square goblets in the heirloom vessels, and almost all major wine vessels have square shapes, and from an overall point of view, although square vessels are a very small portion of the total number of wares, they are rich in characteristic features. \x0d\ middle period along the type of ware, in this period also have more or less changes, and appeared a number of new styles.