What stage did the Shang bronzes enter?

Shang Dynasty is a dynasty after Xia Dynasty. Its establishment ended the chaotic situation in the late summer, and the power of the country was further strengthened.

The Shang Dynasty lasted more than 500 years from 1600 BC to 1046 BC, and was divided into three stages: early stage, middle stage and late stage, with Pan Geng moving to Yin as the boundary.

The early Shang Dynasty refers to the period from the 6th century BC to the middle of the 5th century BC. The bronzes of Erligang culture in Zhengzhou, Henan Province are the representatives of the early Shang Dynasty. Erligang contains two layers of accumulation, and its cultural connotation is extremely rich.

Generally speaking, the early Shang bronzes in various places are: Ding, Da Ding, Dafang Ding, Wei, Gui, Jue, Guan Liu Jue, Yi, Qian, Liang Hu, Xiang Liang Hu, Zhong Zhu Pan, Flat Plate, etc. , which involves cooking. The early vessels were relatively simple, but a set of wine vessels consisting of Jue, Xian and Yun has been widely used.

Bronzes in the early Shang Dynasty had unique shapes. Ding, Wei and other food containers have three feet, one foot must be perpendicular to one ear, which is visually unbalanced. Cylindrical feet such as tripod and tripod are conically connected with the belly of the vessel, which is because the casting technology of fan core was not mastered at that time.

In the early Shang Dynasty, Fang Ding was huge in size, and its container was square and bottomless, which was completely different from the rectangular trough-shaped Fang Ding in Yin Ruins. The form of Jue inherited Erlitou's cultural style, and the method was flat and flat. The flowing parts are all narrow and long. In addition to the flat-bottomed bronze coffins, there are also pocket coffins.

In the early Shang dynasty, bronze bells, jars, altars and other round-footed vessels all had large cross holes, such as the bronze wares on the upper floor of Erligang. Some even left several gaps on the edge of the circle, such as Zhengzhou and Huangpi Panlongcheng.

At the same time, there is a half-covered bag with pipe flow on it, full of feet and a big barrel behind it, which is quite unique in this period. They are all narrow lips, high neck and high shoulders, and their bodies are also very tall. In the early Shang dynasty, there were two kinds of pots with hanging beams: long neck, small mouth, bulging belly, small mouth hanging, and some small mouth and short neck without hanging beams.

Early Shang bronzes generally had thin embryos and simple decorative patterns. Most of them are deformed animal face patterns composed of wide lines and thin lines, and they are all deformed patterns. Except for the symbols of the eyes of large animals, the other stripes do not specifically represent all parts of the image, showing the bronze cultural characteristics of Erligang period.

In addition, another feature of decorative patterns in this period is multi-plane carving, and some main patterns appear relief. For example, the shoulders of bottles and cans are decorated with high relief, and all animal face patterns or other animal patterns are not based on thunder patterns.

All animal face patterns or other animal patterns are not based on thunder patterns, which is the characteristic of this period. In the early Shang dynasty, the geometric patterns were extremely simple, including some rough thunder patterns, single-row or multi-row beading patterns, and breast nail patterns.

On the whole, the decorative patterns of bronzes in this period are simple, mostly single-layer without shading, and the common gluttonous patterns are often composed of two opposite texts, and the circular stripes are often used as the upper and lower boundaries of gluttonous patterns. Some animal face patterns are simpler, and only a dot is cast on both sides of the gate edge to represent the gluttonous eye, and the gate edge represents the nose of the animal face. Some still do it in the same direction, especially highlighting their eyes.

At this time, a single piece decorated with real words appeared, such as the Yue discovered by Huangpi Panlong, and both sides and upper ends of the Yue were decorated with real words. In addition, there are Yun Leiwen, round vortex pattern, nipple pattern, straight chord pattern, herringbone chord pattern, fish pattern, turtle pattern, tiger pattern and snake pattern.

At the same time, there were few inscriptions on bronzes in the early Shang Dynasty. In the past, it was thought that individual turtle shapes were words, but in fact they were still ornamentation rather than words. But in fact, the inscription has sprouted at this time. A bronze urn found in Baijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, has three turtle-shaped patterns on the shoulder, which should be an "A" and a family emblem.

In addition, there is a bronze enamel engraved with the word "Gen", which should be a rare bronze inscription in the early Shang Dynasty.

The alloy composition of bronzes in the early Shang Dynasty was determined as follows: copper content was 67.0 1% to 9 1.99%, tin content was 3.48% to 13.64%, lead content was 0. 1% to 24.76%, and the composition was unstable. However, the high lead content makes the copper liquid keep good fluidity, which is suitable for the technological requirements of thin bronze ware wall in the early Shang Dynasty.

Judging from the bronzes found in some complete tombs in the early Shang Dynasty, different kinds of objects were combined with each other, which often formed certain rules and patterns, reflecting people's living customs and certain meaning of etiquette at that time.

The middle period of Shang Dynasty refers to the period from15th century BC to13rd century BC, which is roughly equivalent to the period from Zhong Ding to Xiaoyi. Some bronzes found in Xiaotun Tomb in the first phase of Yin Ruins Culture. However, there are not many such artifacts found in Yin Ruins, and those in other areas are more typical and exquisite than those in Yin Ruins.

In addition to making tools and weapons, the types of bronzes in the middle Shang Dynasty increased compared with those in the early period, mainly including ding, wei, qi, jue, wei, qi, qi, qi, qi, qi, qi, qi, qi, qi, qi, qi and so on.

The taste is almost the same as that of the previous period, but the flow is relaxed and the round is unprecedented. In addition to the hollow vertebral foot, there is also a "D" foot, the bottom of which protrudes downward, and the flat bottom is rare.

At this time, the wide-shouldered and big-mouthed bottles that appeared in the early days began to develop greatly, such as the heavy and majestic Funan dragon and tiger bottles and animal face bottles, which never appeared in the early Shang Dynasty. During this period, there were also shapes like vases, such as animal-faced vases in Gaocheng.

The early high-profile tapirs developed into the style of low height, width and shoulders, and the giant animal face tapirs were typical. At this time, the cross-shaped and square holes on the foot winder are smaller than those in the early days.

The outstanding change between tripod and tripod is that one ear is no longer opposite to one foot, forming an unbalanced shape, but three feet are opposite to both ears, which will become the fixed format of all tripods in the future. However, at this time, the method of hanging seal of casting core mold has not been completely solved, so the hollow tripod foot is still connected with the tripod belly. This vase, which never appeared in the early Shang Dynasty, was also developed during this period, and the animal face bottle in Gaocheng is its typical example.

In the middle of Shang Dynasty, there appeared a multi-layered decorative pattern based on Yun Leiwen, whose patterns and carvings were complex and delicate, which was incomparable to earlier works. Relief animal patterns also began to appear, but they were generally round and muddy, not as tough and sharp as in the late Shang Dynasty. Some containers are decorated with leaves, which makes them look dignified and dignified.

The inscriptions in the middle period of Shang Dynasty developed little and were in the embryonic stage. There are no inscriptions on general utensils, but the producer's own family emblem was found on individual utensils. Ling Du Fang Ding is a large bronze ritual vessel used for sacrifice and cooking in the middle of Shang Dynasty. Compared with the Fang Ding style represented by Simu Wuding in the late Shang Dynasty, Fang Ding in Ling Du is too deep in the abdomen and relatively short in the foot, which is not solemn enough, too thin in the ear and mouth, and there are still some shortcomings such as lax connection between external styles and overlapping decorative patterns.

Ling Du Fang Ding * * * two pieces. One is high 1 m and weighs 86.4 kg. It is square, with a deep belly, ears and four feet. The upper part of the abdomen is decorated with animal face patterns, and the sides and lower parts are decorated with milk ding patterns, which is simple and solemn. The other is a little smaller, with a height of 0.87 meters and a weight of 64.25 kilograms.

Ding is an ancient utensil for cooking and holding meat. As early as 8,000 years ago, ceramic ding appeared as a cooker for daily cooking. But its real development peak appeared in Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty.

Especially in Shang Dynasty, the making of ritual vessels represented by Ding was very famous. It is regarded as an "artifact" to worship the heavens and the earth and ancestors, and is shrouded in a mysterious and majestic color.

Bronzes in the middle and late Shang Dynasty have reached a high level of maturity in smelting, casting and artistic expression, which can give full play to the characteristics of bronze materials and endow their works with certain social and ideological functions.

The late Shang Dynasty refers to the historical period from14th century BC to 1 1 century BC. The bronze decoration in the late Shang Dynasty was developed, and the styles and types were much richer than those in the middle period, showing a peak of artistic decoration, which was consistent with the high development of bronze ritual vessels.

There are bird patterns, elephant patterns, silkworm patterns, cicada patterns and so on. Animal face decoration is just a standardized form of pattern structure, which shows many objects.

At this time, the decorative features are clustered, with all kinds of objects or images as main patterns or accessories all over the body, even the bottom of invisible objects is decorated, and some objects have as many as 10 animal patterns.

In the late Shang dynasty, the nasal lines in the middle of animal facial lines did not touch the bottom line of the lower diaphragm, and the animal kisses were often integrated without separation in the middle; The facial lines of animals in the posterior segment are often divided into two parts because the nasal tip of animals reaches the bottom line of the lower diaphragm.

As far as expression techniques are concerned, the decorative patterns in the middle of Shang Dynasty are basically symbolic. In addition to bright eyes, the fine images of other parts are also blurred in the main shadows and contours.

The animal images in the late Shang Dynasty are more specific, and some even have a sense of reality, and the main decoration and the distinction between light and shade are obvious. The shading is usually a dense and fine thunder pattern, which is in sharp contrast with the main pattern.

It is common that the main body of the pattern adopts relief, and at the same time, the combination of flat carving and round carving makes the level more delicate and rich. Some reliefs show several levels, and one level is made into a high slope. This kind of laminated relief is called "three-layered flower".

In the late Shang Dynasty, animal face patterns with the theme of animals and monsters got unprecedented development and became a model of ancient decorative arts. Shang bronzes stood at the peak of slavery culture, and their creative experience not only directly influenced different art categories at that time, but also was directly inherited by the early Western Zhou Dynasty.

For example, the bronze head of the double-faced man of God in Shang Dynasty is half man and half god, which reflects the prosperity of witchcraft in Shang Dynasty.

The duty of a wizard is to penetrate the heavens and the earth, see God from heaven and bring God to earth. The bronze heads of the Shang Dynasty double-faced gods are completely symmetrical, and their faces are mysterious, strange, majestic and horrible. The image of demigods is consistent with the status of wizards who pass between people and gods.

The head is hollow and flat, and both sides are symmetrical. The shape of a person's head is an inverted isosceles trapezoid, with a wide forehead, a round top, a straight side and a square jaw. Orbital fossa is depressed, exophthalmos is prominent, and there is a big hole in it. The nose is slender, the wings are fat and garlic-like, and the two holes are small. The mouth is open and bared, the middle teeth are shovel-shaped, and the side teeth are hooked. Upper vertical square tube, ears at the side and double corners at the top.

A round tube is inserted into the feather crown above, and a wooden handle is installed on the square rod below to connect the tubes. The shapes of the upper tube ring and the lower tube square are consistent with the concept of the ancient world, suggesting its function of connecting heaven and earth.

Fang Ding with a human face was also found in Tangheli Township, Huangcai Town, Ningxiang County, Hunan Province, with a height of 38 cm, a length of 29 cm and a width of 23 cm. This is the only bronze ware decorated with real faces. He Da's face Fang Ding has a rectangular body with straight ears and four pillars. The edges of the four corners are higher. The overall color is green, and the appearance of the car body is decorated with a semi-embossed "Superman" image, which is the same. Fiona Fang's face, high cheekbones, rhinoplasty, wide mouth, round eyes, crooked eyebrows and curly ears. There are Yun Leiwen around the face, horns on both sides of the forehead, claws on both sides of the chin, and the trunk is hidden due to the limitation of the plane performance of the object.

The words "Heda" are cast on the inner wall of the tripod. This tripod is magnificent in shape and decorated with human faces, which is even more unique. The image of human face is extremely peculiar, giving the viewer a daunting and grotesque sense of Leng Yan. This is an exquisite bronze product.

It is common for Shang and Zhou bronzes to decorate with animal face patterns, and human face patterns are rare and precious. Fang Ding, whose main part is decorated with four identical face patterns, is even more peculiar. Some people think that this group of people have claws on their faces but no bodies, belonging to the legendary monster "Kubinashi's body" and the gluttonous beast.

Some people think that this kind of face relief is probably related to the legend that the Yellow Emperor has four sides, which corresponds to the description of the Yellow Emperor in ancient literature. It is also said that the space in the tripod can just hold a human head, and Fang Ding's four "human faces" are all tattooed on the human face, which reflects the ancient custom of "headhunting" and using human heads during sacrifice.

In a word, this image can neither be purely attributed to man nor to beast, which is called "half man and half beast". Half-man and half-beast are common manifestations of ancestor worship in prehistoric totems in China, which embodies the ancestor worship complex.

Heroes, cultural heroes and ancestors in ancient legends in China are endowed with the power of God and animal organs besides human images. The book Shan Hai Jing has left us a lot of image descriptions about these ancestors or heroes who are both human beings and gods.

The legendary image of half man and half beast is a combination of animal form and human wisdom. Therefore, primitive man and beast may be the legendary ancestors of a nation, heroes of a tribe, real or legendary "historical figures", or "cultural heroes" created out of thin air to embody the spiritual sustenance of a tribe.

Fang Ding's half man and half beast is undoubtedly one of the gods. The era of casting Fang Ding with a human face is a civilized era with a country. Totem is only the cultural heritage or spiritual master left by ancestors. What did it witness and commemorate?

From the artistic form, Fang Ding, a great man, used repeated and symmetrical decorative techniques, with a tight layout and a combination of realism and abstract ornamentation. Four groups of the same decorative patterns are integrated, which not only strengthens the decorative theme, but also gives people a strong visual impact, achieving a specific decorative effect, reflecting that bronze producers in the late Shang Dynasty have strong realistic ability and image generalization ability.

Although the tattoo on the face of a man like Fang Ding is equipped with horns and claws, it is symbolic and almost negligible. People's images are also like real people. Compared with the pattern with blue face and fangs, half man and half beast, it not only looks not terrible, but also gives people a solemn and lofty aesthetic feeling.

The inscriptions in the late Shang Dynasty have distinct characteristics of the times, and the characters representing human bodies, animals, plants and utensils have strong pictographic significance.

Take the figure of human body image as an example, the head is often thick and the legs are kneeling, which is a beautification means and a solemn performance; Most strokes are vigorous, with a beginning and an end, and there are many twists and turns at the turning point.

The font size is not uniform, and the inscription layout is not neat. Although vertical painting is basically a column, horizontal painting is not a line.

These inscriptions reflect important issues such as family form, family system, religious concept and so on, but some of their profound connotations are still unknown.

There are also a few bronzes with long inscriptions in the Yin Dynasty, but the time has reached the late Yin Dynasty. Most of these long inscriptions involve important events in the late Shang Dynasty, royal sacrificial activities, and the relationship between the royal family and the nobility. Among them, the meanings of some words in the inscriptions and the system at that time are still poorly understood.

In the late Shang dynasty, the method of separate casting was invented, that is, the bronze ware was divided into multiple parts, and the inner mold and the outer mold were made respectively. When casting main parts, the castings are embedded in clay molds and cast together. Cloud is suitable for making bronzes with large volume and complicated shapes, such as stepmother Wu Ding. Wu Ding, the stepmother, is a bronze Fang Ding used for royal sacrifices in the late Shang Dynasty, which is an important representative work of Shang bronzes. Wu Ding, the stepmother, is tall, thick, magnificent, magnificent, ornate and superb in craftsmanship. Also known as stepmother Wu Dafang Ding, she is 1.33m tall, with a mouth length of 1. 1m, a mouth width of 0.78 m, a weight of 832.84 kg and hollow legs. Wu Ding, the stepmother, was cast with a pottery fan. The tripod body includes hollow tripod feet, and its alloy composition is: copper 84.77%, tin 1 1.44%, lead 2.76% and other 0.9%. The tripod has a rectangular belly and two straight ears on the top. Only one ear was left when it was found, and the other ear was copied and mended. There are four cylindrical tripod feet at the bottom, which is a large bronze ware found in the world.

Wu Ding, the stepmother, was cast by the son of Wu Ding, Shang Zhouwang as a sacrifice to her mother. It is cast with a ceramic mold, which consists of a belly mold, a top mold, a core, a base and a gate mold. The decorative pattern of the tripod belly may have used a sub-model; The tripod ear is cast at the back and attached to the edge of the tripod mouth. The inner hole of the tripod ear is where the mud core of the tripod ear is fixed.

Some people think that the tripod ears are cast before the tripod body, and then embedded in the mold and cast together with the tripod body.

The tripod has a rectangular body, a thick mouth edge and a straight outline, showing an unshakable momentum. Stepmother has ears, a square stomach and empty legs. Except that the center of the tripod body is a rectangular plain surface without ornamentation, there are ornamentation in other places. On the exquisite Yun Leiwen, the main decorative patterns of each part have their own forms.

The tripod body is mainly decorated with gluttony around the square surface, and the four sides are decorated by the door, with the bull's head on the side and gluttony on the bottom. There are two tigers on the outside of the tripod ear, mouth to mouth and head inside. The ears are decorated with fish lines. The decorative patterns of the four tripod feet are also unique, with an animal face on each of the three strings.

According to textual research, Wu Ding, the stepmother, should be a heavy weapon of Shang royal family and a masterpiece of bronze culture in the heyday of Shang dynasty.

Stepmother Wu Ding's handle decoration is also exquisite. The two dragons and tigers opened their huge mouths and contained a head, which later evolved into an auspicious pattern of "playing with pearls in a dragon". It is generally believed that this kind of art shows the deterrent power of nature and God. It is also speculated that the man is a virgin who presides over divination. He put his head into the mouth of Dragon and Tiger to show off his courage and magic and make people obey his orders.

This is entirely possible. At that time, Zhen people appeared with two beasts in their hands, and such patterns were often seen on bronzes and Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

The words "stepmother Wu" are cast on the abdomen of stepmother Wu. The font is vigorous and full, the strokes are always exposed, and occasionally a fat pen is used. To cast such a tall bronze ware, the required metal material should be above 1000 kg, and there should be a larger melting furnace.

In addition, there is a representative owl in Fu Hao's tomb in Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province, which is a pair of two and was cast in the late Shang Dynasty, with a height of 0.459 meters. It looks like an owl with its head held high. The decorative patterns are rich and fine.

The beak and chest are decorated with cicada patterns; Kui Wen is on both sides of the owl's neck; The wings are decorated with serpentine patterns on both sides; There is a thrush above the tail, and the whole bottle body is a perfect combination of plane and three-dimensional. There is an inscription "Fu Hao" in the jar.

The body of Siyang square bottle is square, with a large mouth and a slightly outer neck decoration, each side is 0.52 meters long, and its side length is almost close to the height of 0.58 meters. Long neck, high circle feet. The neck is towering, and all sides are decorated with banana leaf patterns, triangle-shaped and animal-faced patterns.

The center of the jar is the center of gravity of the container. A sheep is molded in each of the four corners of the bottle, and the four corners of the shoulder are the heads with four corners. The head and neck of the sheep extend out of the device, and the body and legs of the sheep are attached to the belly and round feet of the bottle. The belly of the bottle is the sheep's chest, and the sheep's legs are connected with legs to bear the weight of the bottle.

The back of the sheep's chest, neck and back are decorated with scales, and the two sides are decorated with exquisite long-crowned phoenix patterns, and there are real inscriptions on the circle.

The shoulder of the square bottle is decorated with a dragon pattern with claws and a high relief snake body. The four sides of the bottle are in the middle, where two sheep are adjacent. A pair of horns and faucets extend out of the table and meander from the right shoulder on both sides of the square bottle in the middle of the front room. Are decorated with exquisite thunder patterns.

Long ridges are designed at the intersections of the four corners and the center lines of the four sides of Siyang square bottle to cover up the possible dislocation of decorative patterns when combining. According to the analysis, Siyang square bottle is cast by secondary casting process, that is, the horn and faucet are cast separately, then put into the outer mold separately, and then cast as a whole. The whole utensil was cast in blocks in one go, showing a superb casting level.

Siyang Square Bottle integrates line carving, relief carving and round carving into one device, plane decoration and three-dimensional sculpture are integrated, and utensils and animal modeling are combined just right, which is made by extremely superb casting technology. Among the bronze square bottles in Shang Dynasty, Siyang square bottle is unparalleled in its elegant shape. This bottle is simple in shape, beautiful and gorgeous, combining static and dynamic. Known as the "ultimate bronze model"

There is also the sheep father Ding, which is a cuboid with folded mouth, ears on the mouth, straight wall, deep abdomen, flat bottom and four pillars under the abdomen. There are ribs on the four corners and feet under the mouth and abdomen. The center of the abdomen is decorated with thunder patterns, the left and right lower parts are decorated with three chest nail patterns, and the mouth and feet are decorated with animal face patterns. There are four words engraved on the inner wall of the vessel: "Be a father, choose a sheep". That is, "making utensils for the father" and "sheep" are family names, and it has unique symbolic significance for sheep to become bronze weights.

In the sacrificial ceremony, sheep is second only to cattle. A large number of sacrificial pits were found in Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan Province, where the capital of Shang Dynasty was located. Many of them are cows, sheep and dogs. During the Wuding period of Shang Dynasty, there was a material about the Shang royal family offering sacrifices to Wuding: "Use a hundred dogs and a hundred sheep."

Another material said: "fifteen sheep" and "fifty sheep", indicating that the amount of sacrifices made by sheep as sacrifices is very large.

The softness of sheep's appearance has also been extended to many sacred natures. The legendary ancestor Hao Tao worshipped sheep. There is also a saying in The Book of Songs, Zhao Nan, that "monarchy is honest and straightforward, and virtue is like a lamb". An ancient one-horned monster in China is also considered to be related to sheep, which can tell whether a person is guilty or not, and distinguish right from wrong. So later generations used unicorns to represent law and justice.

The production time of Chen Xiaoxi's ox bottle is about between the first and Di Xin. According to research, the climate of the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins in ancient China was warm and humid, and rhinoceros and other large creatures living in tropical and subtropical areas were widely distributed at that time. According to my little official rhinoceros bottle, people in Shang dynasty saw rhinoceros, otherwise it would be impossible to create such realistic works. Moreover, the discovery of paleontology also confirmed this. Rhinoceros bones have been found in Yinxu in Anyang, Hemudu in Zhejiang, Nanning in Guangxi and Xiawanggang in Xichuan, Henan. In addition, the "Xi" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty is a rhinoceros. By the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, there were still a large number of rhinos in the Yangtze River basin.

The little minister's rhinoceros bottle is 25 cm high, with the back of the bottle open and the lid off. The overall shape is the image of a two-horned rhinoceros, almost spherical and chubby, supported by four stout short legs, which is embarrassing; Its head stretches forward, with two small round eyes, which looks smart and lovely; Open your mouth slightly, just like a smug smile; Two exaggerated big ears stand on both sides of the head, as if listening to the surrounding sounds curiously.

The round, simple and lovely shape of the little minister's rhinoceros bottle completely broke people's previous impression of rhinoceros, making people stop to watch and feel a little funny and humorous.

The whole body is bright and clean, without ornamentation. Strong sense of size, showing the dynamic of rhinoceros staggering, simple, naive and interesting.

The feeling of rhinoceros's bulky body and its practical function as a container need natural harmony. It shows the level of business artists in observing nature and refining and summarizing life.

There are four lines and 27 words in the inscription: "Ding Si, Wang Sheng, Kui Jing,, Minister Xiang Bei, Wang Weilai recruited people. Ten sacrifices and five sacrifices to the king? Day. " Inscriptions describe the conquest of foreign countries by Shang kings, and wars are also seen in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins.

Fang Yi was a member of many Fang tribes in the periphery of Shang Dynasty. Some of these countries surrendered to the Shang Dynasty, while others dominated one side and opposed the Shang King and his vassals. Wars often broke out between the two sides. The inscription also records the gift of Shang Wang to the young minister Tuo Domineering. I was honored to be rewarded by the Shang King for my position as slave manager, so I made this device as a souvenir. In the late Shang Dynasty and early Western Zhou Dynasty, the bronze smelting and casting industry reached its peak, which was a sign of the development of productive forces.