The main characteristics of bronzes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are: a large number of artifacts from various countries appeared; The formation of regional style; Gradually communicate between regions; The great progress of casting technology reflects the improvement of productivity during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
The rise of princes' bronzes in the early Spring and Autumn Period
The shape and combination of bronzes in the early Spring and Autumn Period are basically the same as those in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and the ornamentation also follows the western style.
Zhou's characteristics. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the ritual vessels of the royal family and princes almost disappeared and were replaced by various countries.
Objects cast by Hou, Qing Dafu and even Qing Dafu's servants. This coincides with the decline of the royal family at that time and the growing power of princes, doctors and retainers. The representative artifacts at this stage are: Qi artifacts found in the south of Huangxian County, Shandong Province, Guo bronzes found in Shangcunling, Sanmenxia, Henan Province, Zeng bronzes found in Sujialong, Jingshan, Hubei Province, Qi bronzes found in Shangkuang, Yantai, Shandong Province, Lu artifacts found in Baicaogou, Licheng, Shandong Province, and Zeng bronzes found in Xiongjialaowan, Suizhou, Hubei Province.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Ji was a vassal state with the surname of Jiang, and the inscription used was "Ji". Its bronzes were all found in Shandong. The clock of the late Western Zhou Dynasty was discovered under the stage of Hou Ji in Shouguang in Qing Dynasty.
In the early Spring and Autumn Period, there was a tomb in the southeast of Huangxian County, Shandong Province. Among them, a number of bronzes were found, including eight plates, bowls and ding, of which the first six were engraved with the wife of Ji Guo.
A tomb in the early Spring and Autumn Period was also found in Shangkuang, the southern suburb of Yantai, Shandong. There are nine bronzes, including ding, pot, bell, ge and fish hook, and two ding have inscriptions on them, indicating that their owners are brothers.
Yantai is far from Ji country and close to Lai country, so the owner of the tomb may have moved from Ji country to Lai country. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, the country also intermarried with the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty. In Zhailu, Jiang, the royal wife of Shandong Province, was recorded, which was also an early musical instrument in the Spring and Autumn Period, and may also be the object of marriage with the queen.
Guo was an important country in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and Guo culture represented by Guo bronzes was an important part of Spring and Autumn Culture. Among the bronzes in the early Spring and Autumn Period, Guo's bronzes are famous for their gorgeous shapes, exquisite patterns and exquisite casting techniques.
The bronzes found in Guo cemetery include Ding, Gui, Wei, Hu, Xi, Jue, Heng, Ge and chime.
For example, Fang Ding, the country of the ancient kingdom, has a majestic appearance, four stable feet, dignified and heavy, and rough and delicate decorative patterns. As a symbol of state and power, it has been endowed with prominent, noble and grand extended meaning. Although this tripod is a practical product, it has a solid appearance and shows the identity and strength of the user.
Guo Tongfangyi is a rectangular wine vessel with a lid, a straight mouth, a four-walled curve, a bulging belly and a perfect shape. The four corners of the lid and the container body have a raised leaf edge opposite to the middle, and the lid is upright in the middle.
A button, in the form of a sloping roof on all sides, is rich in inscriptions and beautifully decorated with the theme of Kuiwen.
Another example is the Grand Jue Cup of the State of Guo, which has flowers in front and tails in the back, vertical mushroom-shaped double columns at the flowers, and animal face inscriptions on the outer surface of the abdomen. Exquisite casting technology, smooth and beautiful shape. The Grand Jue Cup is not only an ancient drinking vessel, but also the earliest bronze ritual vessel in China and a symbol of the owner's rights and status.
Guo Gufang is honored as a ritual casting, with a height of 2 1cm, a caliber of 20 cm and a weight of 3560 grams. Square body, round mouth and overlapping shoulders, although small in shape, are extraordinary in bearing, profound and vigorous, and like great tools, which can be called masterpieces in the heyday of bronzes in the early Spring and Autumn Period.
The bottleneck of the ancient square bottle was decorated with banana leaf patterns. If carefully identified, each banana leaf pattern is actually composed of inverted animal face patterns with shifted facial features. Below the animal face pattern are two beautiful phoenix birds. The shoulder is decorated with a double-headed dragon pattern, and the faucet looks back and waits.
The four corners are prominent horned elephant noses, round eyes, long curled noses, upturned ivory and curved horns, which have a dignified and mysterious appearance. Zengguo Ancient City Site is located in Zengdu District, Suizhou City, Hubei Province. The record of Zeng was first found in the article "Zuo Bi Zeng" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yin Shang Dynasty. Bronzes with the word "Zeng" have been found many times in Zengdu District, Yicheng, Zhongxiang, South Henan and other places in Wushengguan on the west bank of Hanshui River, such as Zhong Ding, Zhong Ding, Ceng Zi, Wang, No Blood in Zengji, Issued by Zengdu Silver and Zengding.
Through the research and textual research on the inscriptions and historical materials on these unearthed bronzes, we can draw the conclusion that "Zeng and Sui were one", that is, 2400 years ago, the Sui country in the Eastern Han Dynasty with Zengdu District as the center was Zeng and Suizhou was Zengdu.
Qufu, Shandong Province is the ancient city of Shandong, and a large number of bronzes have been found in tombs during the Spring and Autumn Period. For example, 6 pieces of reeds, beans 1 piece, rims, bells and other bronzes have been found in Beiguan Village.
Later, a number of bronzes were found in the tombs of the ruins of the ancient city of Lu in Qufu. The utensils mainly include tripod, hook, reed, hairpin, pot, plate, hairpin, basin and other weapons and chariots and horses. Most of them were popular in the Central Plains at that time, and the decorative patterns were also stolen patterns, heavy ring patterns and ring patterns.
Some bronzes are also engraved with inscriptions. Among them, the inscriptions found on bronzes are mostly artifacts made or made by Lu Situ Zhong You's father for his uncle, and the owners of bronzes are Lu Bo and others.
In addition to the above-mentioned representative artifacts, bronzes in the early Spring and Autumn Period also included Qin Gongzhong found in Taigong Temple in Baoji, Shaanxi. It is 0.48 meters high and the distance between the two grinding discs is 0.27 meters. There are 5 pieces of different sizes, with 4 dragons on the corners, 4 groups of deformed thunder patterns on the trunk, a single string pattern on the abdomen and dragon patterns on the drum.
Accompanied by Qin, Qin and Zhong were large percussion instruments, which were popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and were used in conjunction with parallel music instruments when the nobles sacrificed or feasted. The bridge-shaped mouth is a bell, and the flat mouth is called a bell.
Qin Gong Ju is magnificent in shape, with a flush drum surface, four flying ribs in the middle and two flying ribs on the side, showing a nine-dragon shape, with five flying dragons and 1 phoenix birds in front and back. Every dance department has a phoenix in Elon, back to back, looking back, with rings on the buttons. There are strip patterns on the body, which are composed of deformed cicada patterns and stolen music patterns.
Qin Gong has an inscription on him, which records the lineage of the early Qin Dynasty. It is very important to study the history of Qin ancestors, and it is also helpful to understand the bronze casting and smelting technology and music culture of Qin in the early Spring and Autumn Period. In addition, there is a square pot with dragon ears Tiger Claw, which is known as "the treasure of bronze". Gong Zheng's tomb in Lijialou, Xinzheng, Henan Province, was found, with a height of 0.87m, a width of 0.47m and a weight of 4 1 kg.
The square pot with dragon ears and tiger feet has a cover and looks like a crown. Straight mouth and thick lips, slender neck like a flat square tube, bulging belly and round ass. The neck is decorated with banana leaf patterns. The most distinctive carving of this square pot is the cooperation of Yi Long and a tiger. There are a pair of strong dragon-shaped ears on each side of the neck. The dragon is a high crown, and when you look back, the tail is crouching. The dragon's ears are cast with fine holes, giving people a majestic air that is above the clouds and bathed in deep springs.
The abdomen is decorated with columnar ribs, the upper part is decorated with flat stripes, and the lower part is exposed. The circle feet are decorated with plain and moire patterns, and two tigers lie under their feet with their mouths slightly open and their tongues sticking out.
This pot is elegant in shape, beautifully decorated, and the dragon and tiger echo up and down, lifelike. The dragon represents SHEN WOO, strength and power. It has the demeanor of a king and is extremely fickle. It can ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters. This device is wrapped around a green dragon and tamed by a white tiger. It means beauty and good luck.
The whole body is flat, and the Ssangyong on both sides looks back, highlighting the prominent position, highlighting the distinguished status, and the dragon takes off, which means rising step by step.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the ideological field was unprecedentedly active, and people showed their individuality and advocated romantic feelings. As the physical and chemical reflection of the style at that time, the bronze wares in the Spring and Autumn Period changed from heavy to light, from majestic to exquisite, from mysterious to realistic, and the ornamentation became more understandable and closer to life.
The appearance of lotus crane square pot is a symbol of the spirit of the Spring and Autumn Period. It reflects a new concept of life and art, and is the image embodiment of active spiritual strength.
The pot is an ancient bronze wine vessel and an important bronze ritual vessel. It has existed since Shang Dynasty, and it mainly prevailed in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
There is a record of "100 pots of sake" in the Book of Songs, which refers to this kind of vessel. Its shapes are various, such as square pot, flat pot, round pot, retort pot and so on. Its peculiar and gorgeous shape is a fine bronze ware in the Spring and Autumn Period.
The main part of the square pot of Zhenghuo Lianhe is a popular square pot shape since the late Western Zhou Dynasty, with magnificent shape and elegant decoration. The top cover is hollow petal-shaped, neutral and crane-shaped, with head held high and wings spread. The carved ancient life of the ear was replaced by the crouching beast in the neck and abdomen.
The square pot is decorated with intertwined dragons from the neck to the abdomen, regardless of primary and secondary, interspersed up and down, and extended all around, which seems to strive for a dynamic balance in general. A beast with a tiger-like shell, the first step is to stick out its tongue. The two beasts have two horns and seem to be tilting their heads.
Fully support heavy equipment. The concept is novel and the design is ingenious.
There are many images on the pot, which are miscellaneous but not chaotic. Dragon and tiger have their own expressions. Of course, the most wonderful decoration of the square pot is the double lotus petals tilted at the top and the crane standing on the lotus core and spreading its wings.
The crane is slim, its wings are stretched and its neck is crisp. Their fresh, free and lively artistic conception, with both form and spirit, is lifelike, sweeping away the solemn and inflexible style of the previous generation of decoration technology, marking a new beginning of China's ancient decoration technology.
Lotus crane square pot, with its huge shape, elegant curve, pure green technology, exquisite decoration, fresh and meaningful, makes the world marvel. Therefore, the Lotus Crane Square Pot is known as the "swan song of the Bronze Age", which shows that Zheng's industrial technology level, especially bronze casting technology, was in a leading position at that time.
The composition of Lotus Crane Square Pot is extremely complicated, the modeling design is very wonderful, and the casting skills are exquisite and exquisite, which is a model of bronze art in the Spring and Autumn Period. Lotus crane square pot needs dozens of slaves to cast at the same time, which is the representative of multi-category co-casting technology.
The lotus crane square pot is decorated with various additional decorative patterns, which not only causes extremely magnificent decorative effects, but also reflects the important changes in the aesthetic concept of bronze art in the Spring and Autumn Period.