What are the cultural characteristics of bronze decorative patterns in Shang and Zhou Dynasties?

Decorations are an important part of the study of Shang and Zhou bronzes, and it is of great significance to study them in depth.

The decorative patterns of bronzes mainly include gluttonous pattern (animal face pattern), true dragon pattern, Feng Niaowen, round vortex pattern, stolen curve pattern, ripple pattern, dragon pattern, flatworm pattern, gnat pattern, feather pattern, four-petal flower pattern, hook ray pattern, gobang pattern and various animals (rhinoceros, dragon).

Gluttony pattern (animal face pattern)

As the most important decorative pattern in Shang and Zhou bronzes, it reached its peak from the late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and was widely used in royal ritual vessels, ritual vessels and utensils in the pre-Qin period. The first record of the gluttonous pattern appeared in Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals: "It's bad to cast a gluttonous body, eat people without swallowing them, and repay them with words." However, the educational function of the gluttonous mode mentioned here cannot correctly reflect its ideological connotation.

Judging from the structure of Chinese characters, the word "gluttonous" contains the radical of "food". The main feature is that the main part is the positive image of the animal head, with prominent eyes, wide mouth, horns and ears; Some have claws and tails attached to their sides, while others have the shape of long curly tails on both sides.

According to "Zuo Zhuan" for three years, "(Wang) was virtuous last summer, and he painted things from a distance, devoted himself to herding and preparing things, so that the people knew the treachery of God. Therefore, people enter Kawasawa Mountain and have nothing to do; You can't meet ghosts. With energy, you can rest all day. " The images on Shang bronzes mentioned here should be to drive away "ghost" gods.

"Book of Rites" also said: "Yin people respect God, lead civil gods, ghosts before rituals, punishment before rewards, respect without kissing. His embarrassment is not quiet, but shameless. " That is to say, in Shang society, almost everything was divination, and with the perfect system of weekly sacrifice, people who worship God should attach great importance to sacrificial utensils. If you cast patterns on important sacrificial vessels, then this pattern must occupy an important position in the hearts of businessmen.

When it first appeared, it might be related to totem belief. With the development of society, especially after entering the pre-Qin period, it gradually evolved into a representative of the majesty and dominance of the ruling class. It can be seen that the representative position and gluttonous position in bronze decoration are hard to shake.

Dragon pattern

On bronzes, dragon pattern is also one of the main decorative patterns, and its shape is mostly arc. Dragon patterns on early bronzes were mostly depicted with thin lines, and then the lines were widened and covered with other decorative patterns. With the development of society, the image of the dragon has also become plump. In order to make the dragon pattern more prominent, people painted Yun Leiwen and other patterns under the dragon pattern to make the dragon more clear.

There are many kinds of dragon patterns, such as: tiger ear dragon patterns, tiger ears arranged symmetrically; Dragon pattern with the angle rolled forward, with the angle rolled forward and symmetrically arranged; The back roll angle is dragon, and the angle is rolled back and symmetrically arranged; Dragon pattern with zigzag corners, and the corners are symmetrically arranged in zigzag; Giraffe horn dragon pattern, horn like giraffe, symmetrically arranged; The trunk has a dragon pattern, and the nose is as long as the trunk; There are many forms, such as dragon pattern, roll drying and so on.

Among them, dragon pattern is the representative of dragon pattern. Solanum nigrum, a legendary dragon-like animal, usually has an open mouth, a horn, a foot and a curly tail. The real dragon pattern is a side dragon image with a long arched body and long horns on the head. The dragon pattern and the round vortex pattern are arranged in a double-sided continuous manner, which is the fire dragon mentioned in ancient literature, while the round vortex pattern is the fire pattern in "fire is like a dragon, mountains are like chapters, and water is like a dragon".

Feng Niaowen

The appearance and widespread use of Feng Niaowen is closely related to the legend of Shang origin. According to Records of the Historian Yin Benji, "A mysterious bird dropped its egg when the threesome was taking a bath, and Zhu Di took it and swallowed it because it was pregnant." The businessman's ancestral contract was conceived because his mother Judy ate the egg of a mysterious bird while taking a bath outdoors. Seemingly absurd, the ancients believed it.

Feng Niaowen has a crown, some horns and tail feathers on his head, which shows a kind of agility of life. It fully shows the businessmen's love for life and respect for their ancestors.

Bird patterns appeared on bronzes and first appeared in Erligang culture in Shang Dynasty. The earliest bird pattern was the bird pattern, which was popular from the middle of Yin Ruins to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, but it was rare after Mu Wang. Generally, there is no crown or simple crown feather, the beak is pointed, some are hooked, most of them are upright, a few are upright, the pointed wings are upturned, and most of them are drooping.

The bird pattern in the middle and late Yin Ruins is a big bird pattern, which began to appear frequently. From the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the period of King Mu and King Gong, it is called the phoenix pattern era. On the basis of the continuation of styles in the late Shang Dynasty, many new styles appeared in Feng Niaowen, such as multi-tooth crown Feng Niaowen, feathered Feng Niaowen, hualing Feng Niaowen, corolla Feng Niaowen and long crown and drooping tail Feng Niaowen. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the bird pattern in Taihō was basically crested, which was generally used to decorate bronze pots.

Other decorations

On the bronzes of last week's period, in addition to the main pattern, there are some patterns, which can also be the main pattern, but they are basically the main patterns of foil.

Stealing mode. This kind of decorative pattern is generally developed from some figurative decorative patterns such as bird pattern and dragon pattern. It also has strong decorative and adaptability, can appear anywhere in bronze wares, and can show good decorative structural characteristics.

Ripple (band pattern). This decorative pattern is a relatively wide and very smooth curved pattern. The pattern is basically a continuous S-shape, which often appears together with the dragon pattern and is used for the decoration of ode pots.

Flat stripes. It is almost a miniature version of the dragon pattern, like a small snake that bends and coils. Although the pattern structure is not complicated, it folds up like a gorgeous brocade because of constant repetition. Of course, such a small and compact pattern is difficult to complete without advanced production technology.

Feather pattern is also evolved from dragon pattern. On the surface, it looks like countless tiny feathers or billowing waves, but as long as you look closely, you can still find the dragon's head and claws.

Moire. Decorative lines are easy to round and square, generally located in triangular, circular or heart-shaped patterns. From the mid-Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, it was the golden age of moire, which was widely used in bronze decoration, replacing gluttonous patterns and stolen patterns.

Elephant pattern, deer pattern, rabbit pattern, cicada pattern, face pattern and other decorative patterns. Most of these decorative patterns are directly drawn from real life or fairy tales, which generally originated in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, and the glorious period was the Warring States Period.

The above decorative patterns are basically the main decorative patterns. The following decorative patterns are generally not used alone on bronzes, but often used together with other geometric patterns.

Yun Leiwen. This kind of decoration is a combination of moire and thunder, which prevailed in Shang Dynasty. The pattern outlined by the soft winding is moire, and the pattern outlined by the angular square straight line is thunder.

Vortex pattern, also known as fire pattern, is round. There is a small circle in the middle of the circle, and four to eight semicircular lines are arranged around it in the same direction, representing the ups and downs of the figure. Vortex patterns are mostly used on the shoulders and bellies of reeds, ding, Jue, Yun, pots and Yun, which are very popular in Shang Dynasty.

There are also nail prints, snake prints and so on.

It can be seen that the rich decorative patterns on bronzes, which are deep and huge modeling objects, have won a shocking aesthetic effect and also reflected the unique decorative beauty of traditional decorative patterns in China.

Lao Tie asks for praise.