What was the heyday of bronze art in China?

China's bronze culture has developed to its peak, including the Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn periods and the early Warring States period, lasting for about 1,600 years. The bronzes of this period are mainly divided into ceremonial instruments, weapons and miscellaneous objects. Musical instruments are also mainly used in the festival activities of the Jongmyo Temple.

Ritual utensils are used in the rituals of ancient red tape, or displayed in temples, or used for banquets, washing, and some are specially used for funeral vessels. Bronze ritual vessels have a certain sacredness and cannot be used in ordinary life occasions. Of all the bronzes, ceremonial vessels are the most numerous and beautifully made.

Ceremonial instruments can represent the highest level of Chinese bronze craftsmanship. The types of ritual utensils include cooking utensils, food utensils, wine vessels, water vessels and idols. The bronzes of this period are the most beautifully decorated, and there are many types of cultural ornaments.

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The main achievements of Chinese bronze art are reflected in the two major aspects of the shape and decoration of the utensils.

In addition, the calligraphic value of the inscriptions on Shang and Zhou bronzes (also known as "golden inscriptions") has long been concerned. The bronze casting process is a unique casting process for Chinese bronzes, and the aesthetic beauty of the bronze art can be compared with the non-lost wax method. The outstanding feature of ancient Chinese bronzes is the exquisite craftsmanship of the workmanship, which shows the ingenuity of the ancient craftsmen.

The method of making bronze ware by casting the composite fan of ceramic was fully developed in ancient China. Tao Fan's material selection and plastic mold turning, pattern engraving are extremely exquisite, mud casting, casting, casting, stacking technology is very mature. The subsequent development of the lost-wax process technology without the need for separate casting is undoubtedly a great progress in the bronze casting process.

The value of Chinese bronze:

The invention of bronze is a major event in the history of human civilization, because it overcomes the soft weakness of pure copper, and has the advantages of low melting point and good casting performance, it has gradually become the main variety of ancient bronze, and has promoted the development of manufacturing technology such as cars, ships, carvings, metal processing, agriculture, military and economic society.

The application of bronze represents the level of science and technology and the level of culture and art at that time, and has become a distinctive symbol of this era.

In addition to still having the basic characteristics of the bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the bronzes of this period also show some new characteristics, that is, they have local cultural characteristics. In Shou County, Anhui Province, Jiaxian County, Henan Province.

Luoyang, Henan Province has unearthed more spring and autumn bronzes, including ritual vessels, living utensils, weapons, musical instruments, and copper chariots and horses.

Wait. Bronze is an alloy of red copper, tin and lead, and is called bronze because it is blue-gray. Bronzes mainly refer to the pre-Qin period.

Objects cast in bronze.

China's ancient bronze culture and art, represented by the bronze ware of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, is rich in types, majestic in shape, exquisite in decoration, sophisticated in casting, and profound in creativity, in the Bronze Age of mankind.

It is unique, and its glorious achievements have made epoch-making achievements and contributions to promoting the evolution and progress of world civilization. Museums and galleries around the world have all regarded Chinese bronzes as important objects in their collections, and collectors have regarded them as treasures of their homes and passed them down from generation to generation. The artistic realm achieved by Chinese bronzes is unprecedented, and it is extremely wonderful.

China's bronzes are not only rich in variety, but also have unique artistic characteristics, and have always been treasures that Chinese and foreign collectors pay attention to collecting. Because the shape of bronze ritual ware is the most diverse, and it can best reflect the artistic characteristics of bronze ware, so for thousands of years, collectors have attached importance to the traditional collection of ritual vessels such as Ding, Yi, Zhong, Gui, Zun, Jue, Gong, Bean, etc., especially the ritual vessels with inscriptions, which are the focus of pursuit. Originally, the number of bronze ritual vessels was not much, and the demand for bronze vessels continued unabated, so bronze ware has always been the most expensive, especially rare and high-quality products, and only the royal nobles and wealthy businessmen can afford to play.

Chinese bronzes have the following characteristics: 1. The history is long, and it is said that there are three generations of bronzes, but in fact, the most important thing is to refer to the late Shang period to the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the bronzes of this period reached their peak. 2. Bronze has brought China's original modeling and ornamentation art to an unprecedented level.

3. The number is small compared to other works of art, because the bronzes were used by the royal nobles at that time, and they were also very precious at that time. Fourth, because the vast majority of bronzes are buried underground, they are damaged by underground corrosion and tomb collapse. Only about 10 percent of the bronzes were unearthed.

Categories: Art >> Calligraphy, Painting and Fine Arts.

Analysis: Xia Dynasty: The shape is small, the shape is simple, the decoration is simple, and the typical decoration is the milk nail pattern.

Shang Dynasty: In the early days, the shape and decoration were relatively simple; The later forms are diverse. The shape is mature and steady, the decoration is complex and boring, more vivid, and full of the beauty of the caracal calendar.

Western Zhou: The shape is simple and smooth, the shape is extremely harmonious with the decoration, full of rhythm, and the style is rational and elegant.

Spring and Autumn: From modeling to cultural decoration, the mountains are full of agility, free stretching, and have a tendency to secularize.

Warring States: Increase in daily utensils. The decorative techniques are rich and diverse, and secular.

It can be said that the shape and decoration of bronze have undergone a development process from simple to complex, from dignified to vivid.

Early Shang Dynasty bronzes have a unique shape. Ding, mustache and other food utensils three-legged. There must be a foot and an ear in a vertical line, and there is a sense of visual imbalance.

Ding, Hu and other columnar feet into a conical foot and the abdomen of the instrument communicate, this is due to the fact that at that time did not master the casting of the fan core fully enclosed skills. The square tripod is huge, and the container part is square and deep bucket shaped, which is completely different from the rectangular trough shape of the square tripod in the Yinxu period.

The main body of the early Shang Dynasty bronze ornamentation has been the animal face pattern, composed of rough hook and whirlwind lines, all are deformed patterns, except for the round eyes of the beast, which is thought to be a symbol, the rest of the stripes do not specifically represent the various parts of the image, the ornamentation is more flat carving, the individual main pattern appears in relief, and the upper layer of Erligang Zun, Wei and other vessels have been decorated with high relief on the shoulder. All animal face patterns or other animal patterns do not have thunder patterns as the ground, which is characteristic of this period. The geometric patterns of the early Shang Dynasty were extremely simple, with some rough thunder patterns, as well as single or multi-column beaded patterns, and milk nail patterns had also appeared.

The bronzes of the early Shang Dynasty have very few inscriptions, and it was previously believed that the turtle shapes on the individual were words, but in fact they were still ornaments rather than words. The alloy composition of the early Shang Dynasty bronzes has been determined: the copper content is between, the tin content is between, and the lead content is in.

The composition is not very stable. However, the high lead content keeps the molten copper in good fluidity, which is suitable for the process requirements of the early Shang Dynasty bronze ware with thin walls.

Middle Shang Dynasty: The shapes of vessels close to the early period in this period include Jue, Yao, and Zhu. Although the tail is similar to the early period, the flow has been relaxed, and the appearance of the round body is unseen. In addition to the hollow vertebral foot, a T-shaped foot appears, and the bottom is mostly protruding downward, and the flat bottom is rare.

The early part of the late Shang Dynasty: The new types of utensils that appeared in this period include Fang Yi, Ji and Mu. Square vessels have developed greatly, and almost all wine vessels are square.

Later part of the late Shang Dynasty: In terms of instruments, the shoulderless and flat body are new typical instruments, and the horses and horses such as horse bits are first seen. Most of the tools used in the late Shang Dynasty were used.

In China, it is generally said that bronze ware appeared and became popular from the late Neolithic period to the Qin and Han dynasties. Among them, Shang Zhou is the most exquisite.

Because of the lack of archaeological evidence of the Xia Dynasty, the situation of the Xia Dynasty is not very clear, but it should belong to the period of the emergence and development of bronze artifacts, and its level of craftsmanship is bound to be discounted in comparison. There are a large number of archaeological discoveries in the bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, when the bronzes already had a high level of craftsmanship, and the level of bronzes in the Shang and Zhou dynasties was even higher than that of the Zhou. Bronzes were also very popular in both dynasties.

Looking at the Qin and Han dynasties, although there was already an iron-smelting process, due to the low smelting temperature and poor process in the early stage, the strength of iron was not as good as that of bronze, so iron was not widely popular during this period, and was mostly used to make rough agricultural tools, and the army was still mainly bronze. Iron really completely replaced bronze in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but in the Western Han Dynasty, due to the development of iron smelting technology, iron has been widely used in military agriculture and other fields, but at this time bronze is still in use, but it is not often used in the field of social life.

Shang and Zhou dynasties in China were the heyday of casting and using bronzes, and the nobles not only used bronze as practical goods, but also as rituals and funeral objects for sacrifices, court appointments, conquests, marriages, and banquets. There are many types of bronzes, with exquisite ornamentation, and the inscriptions are particularly precious, constituting a splendid bronze culture.

During the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, China's bronze was very developed, so the three dynasties are called the Bronze Age.

But the real prosperity began in the Shang Dynasty, such as: Simu Wuding.

Bronze originated in Xia, flourished in the middle of the Shang Dynasty, that is, after Wuding, and flourished in the late Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.

Later, in addition to the decorative pieces and small pieces of bronze of daily necessities, ritual utensils, cooking utensils, and weapons were basically replaced by other forms. In addition, the study of bronzes cannot be summarized simply in terms of rise, prosperity and decline, because the content of bronzes can be said to be all-encompassing. The composition of bronze, the content of the ritual system, the casting process, the scope of use, etc., all of them are advanced with the times, and the world has moved.