What are the characteristics of bronze and what are the representatives of bronze ware?

Bronze is an alloy of tin and lead, and it is called bronze because of its blue-gray color.

Ancient musical instruments can be divided into two categories according to their use: used in rituals, banquets, ceremonies, and in the army. From the inscriptions on the extant ancient bells and sentences:

to music father and brother, to feast guests", it proves that it is the instrument of the banquet. Judging from the existing inscription of the cymbal: "Yu Yi Xing My Division, Yu Yi My Disciple, Yu Yi Killing", it proves that it is a musical instrument used in the army.

But this is only a general classification, because elephant bells and drums are used both as musical instruments in feasts and in armies. Ancient bronze musical instruments can be roughly divided into seven categories: cymbals, cymbals, sentences, duos, bells, bells and drums.

Bronze musical instruments are the most representative and important historical relics in the ** culture of the third dynasty of the Xia and Shang dynasties. The bronze musical instruments found in the Luoyang area, such as copper bells, cymbals, cymbals, gongs, bells, bell bells, etc., include almost all types of bronze musical instruments, constituting a basically complete system of bronze musical instruments. It not only reflects the context and major achievements of the development of bronze musical instruments in the three dynasties of Luoyang pre-Qin, shows the important position of Luoyang area in the history of ancient Chinese culture, but also provides extremely valuable archaeological data for the study of bronze musical instruments.

The appearance of bronze is an important sign of the arrival of the age of civilization. According to archaeological discoveries, as early as the Longshan culture period in Henan, the Heluo area centered on Luoyang has taken the lead in entering the Bronze Age, thus giving birth to the ancient Luoyang culture based on the bronze civilization of the Xia and Shang dynasties, and the earliest glory of Chinese tradition. So far, the bronze musical instruments found in the Luoyang area include copper bells, cymbals, cymbals, gongs, bells and button bells, including almost all types of bronze musical instruments, constituting a basically complete system of bronze musical instruments, allowing us to objectively observe the appearance and characteristics of the three generations of bronze musical instruments in Luoyang and the development and evolution process of the three dynasties of pre-Qin in the historical stage of about 2000 years from an important aspect.

First: Simu WudingUnearthed in 1939 in an ancient tomb of the Shang Dynasty in Yinxu, Anyang, Henan, it is a sacrificial vessel made by the Shang king Zu Geng or Zu Jia to worship his mother Wu, and it is a representative work of bronze ware in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. It is a national first-class cultural relic, and began to be collected in the National Museum in 1959 as a treasure of the town museum.

With a height of 133 centimeters, a mouth length of 112 centimeters, a mouth width of centimeters, and a weight of kilograms, Dingtong is the heaviest single bronze ritual vessel ever found in ancient China, and its casting is enough to reflect the grand scale of the bronze casting industry in the middle of the Shang Dynasty.

Second: Four sheep FangzunUnearthed in 1938 on the mountainside of Yueshan Puzhuanerlun, Huangcai Town, Ningxiang County, Hunan, it is a bronze ritual vessel and sacrificial article in the late Shang Dynasty. It is one of the top ten national treasures and is in the collection of the National Museum of China.

Siyang Fangzun is the largest of the bronze statues of the Shang Dynasty in China, each side of the length is centimeters, high centimeters, weight kilograms, the whole utensils are cast with the block model method, in one go, the magic axe is wonderful, showing the superb casting level, and is called "the ultimate bronze model" by the historians.

Third: Sanxingdui bronze statueThe Sanxingdui site is 3000-5000 years old, known as the "ninth wonder of the world", these two artifacts are the Sanxingdui bronze one of the very famous and representative artifacts. The bronze statue is the tallest and most complete bronze statue in existence.

He is known as the "King of the World's Bronze Statues". The statue is made of inlay casting by segmented casting method, and the production is exquisite and delicate, so far, it is unique in the archaeological history of Xia, Shang and Zhou. Bronze longitudinal portraits, among the many bronze masks unearthed in Sanxingdui, the most peculiar and majestic shape is the bronze longitudinal mask.

Bronze ware was called "gold" or "jijin" in ancient times, and it was an alloy of red copper and other chemical elements such as tin and lead.

The use of bronze tools began in the late Neolithic period in Turkey and Iraq, as well as copper beads excavated from ancient tellramad sites in Syria. Chinese bronzes began from Majiayao to the Qin and Han dynasties, with the Shang and Zhou dynasties being the most exquisite. It has appeared in the early Yangshao culture and the Majiayao culture period in China.

The first thing that appeared in China was small tools or ornaments. The Xia Dynasty began to have bronze vessels and weapons. By the middle Shang period, the variety of bronzes was already abundant, and inscriptions and fine patterns appeared.

From the late Shang period to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, it was the heyday of the development of bronze ware, with a variety of types, thick and dignified, gradually lengthened inscriptions, and rich patterns. Subsequently, the bronze carcass began to thin and the ornamentation was gradually simplified. From the late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period, due to the popularization and use of ironware, copper tools became less and less.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, as pottery and lacquerware entered daily life, the variety of copper vessels decreased, the decoration was simple, mostly plain, and the carcass was thinner.

Chinese bronzes are exquisitely made, enjoying a high reputation and artistic value among the world's bronzes, representing the superb technology and culture of China's bronze development for more than 5,000 years.

The real color of the bronze is the earthy yellow, and the trembling cavity turns green little by little because it is buried in the soil and rusty. Since the bronzes are made entirely by hand, no two pieces are the same, and each one is unique.

Second, it is unique in the world.

Bronzes are found all over the world and are a symbol of a worldwide civilization. The earliest bronze objects appeared in ancient Babylon 6,000 years ago. Large bronze knives carved with the image of a lion during the Sumerian civilization are representative of early bronzes.

Bronze round dust ware was gradually replaced by iron tools more than 2,000 years ago.

1. Between the shapes of the vessels, because the bronze production methods of the Western Zhou Dynasty are the same as those of the Xia and Shang periods, there is not much change, they are all pottery fan production, and one vessel is a fan, and the hand is not able to cast the same pottery fan, so there is no exactly the same bronze shape in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

2. Between the ornaments, due to the same as the Xia and Shang eras, they were cast by Tao Fan, and there were almost no bronzes with the same ornamentation or notching, except for a few with a single fan casting with the same ornamentation, but such ornamentation was rare in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

3. In terms of copper-iron co-casting, the era of copper and meteorite co-casting in Chinese history was from the late Shang Dynasty to the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The era of artificial iron smelting and copper combined casting was technically mature in the late Western Zhou Dynasty at the latest.

4. In terms of the types of casting, in addition to the pottery fan method of smelting and casting, the Western Zhou Dynasty also continued the tradition of casting small bronze pieces and uncomplicated artifacts with stone models in the Xia and Shang periods.

5. In terms of ornamentation, the ornamentation on many bronzes was rented and excavated in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and there was a situation in which several ornaments were scattered and buried in the layout method.