There are many kinds of bronzes, which can be divided into round bottom, flat bottom and corrugated bottom according to their bottom shape, and the bottom is supported by three or four feet. These vessels are composed of two parts, round, square or rectangular, with molded handles, feet, covers and so on. According to the purpose, it can be divided into Yi vessels, musical instruments, weapons, weights and measures, mirrors, coins, seals and so on. These objects are usually engraved with words, which are called "inscriptions" or "Zhong Dingwen".
Some inscriptions are cast, others are carved. Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty were generally cast on vessels, and later inscriptions were also engraved. Inscriptions have evolved into various forms, commonly known as "Zhong Ding character", and are called "Wen Shu", "Wen Gu" or "Dazhuan" in China's calligraphy.
The number of words in bronze inscriptions ranges from 300 to 400. Generally speaking, the inscriptions in Shang Dynasty are relatively simple, and there are many inscriptions in Western Zhou Dynasty, but they tend to be simple in Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, and there are few bronzes with long inscriptions in Qin and Han Dynasties.
The bronze inscriptions used in the early Zhou Dynasty are very similar in strokes and structure to Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty. After King Zhao of Zhou Dynasty, the inscriptions on bronze in the Western Zhou Dynasty became more and more mature. Representative works include The Clock of King Zhao of Zhou and The Wall of King Gong of Zhou. At this time, the main characteristics of inscriptions on bronze are as follows: the strokes are gradually rounded from the shape of tadpole tail, and most of them are round; The knot is more upright, tighter, more stable and more regular than the bronze inscriptions in the early Zhou Dynasty. In composition, I began to pay attention to vertical and horizontal spacing and line spacing. Inscriptions with boundary grids are more rigorous, while those with larger word spacing and row spacing are very sparse and open. At present, the oldest inscription is Mao Dinggong in Zhou Xuanwang in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, with a total of 497 words, which is equivalent to a history book and is known as the "history book".
Mao Dinggong is a bronze ware cast by Mao Gongfu, a direct descendant of the Zhou royal family in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. It was unearthed in Qishan, Shaanxi Province in the late Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty, which is now Qishan County, Baoji City. Round, with vertical ears, deep belly and bulging outside, three hooves and three feet, with heavy ring lines along the mouth, dignified and steady shape.
Ding Neiming recorded Mao Gong's advice to Zhou Xuanwang. His calligraphy is a mature style of inscriptions on bronze in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which is fantastic, lively, vigorous, round and vigorous and has a long structure.
Among all the bronzes, the inscriptions on Yi artifacts are the most. Yi ware is also called "ritual ware", and its reputation is closely related to the ritual and music system of the society at that time. Rites are used to worship ancestors, entertain guests, reward heroes, record merits and praise, and be buried after death. Ding is the most important bronze ritual vessel. It is not only a sacrificial vessel, but also a symbol of the country.
At that time, whenever something important happened, the ruler of the country would cast a bronze ware and record it on the bronze ware for long-term preservation. According to the Book of Rites Sacrifice System, Fuding has an inscription, and the inscription has its name. Self-naming, promoting the beauty of its ancestors, and defining the afterlife.
The inscriptions of the Zhou Dynasty were born in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, but the fonts were more stereotyped and standardized than those of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Inscriptions can express ideas and describe things flexibly and freely, and the shape of their strokes has also changed. The lines are not as thin and hard as Oracle Bone Inscriptions's, and they are all straight pens. There is a round pen, a font knife, and the size is uniform, which marks the arrival of a new era of Chinese characters in which the symbol of one word and one sound replaces the pictographic character of multiple words.
Judging from the archaeological objects of bronzes, the inscriptions are extremely rich in content, involving all aspects of social life at that time, such as wars, covenants, regulations, appointments, awards, ceremonies, slaves and so on. For example, in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were four lines of 32-word inscriptions engraved on the inner bottom, which was the only record of logging merchants in Zhou Wuwang in the early Zhou Dynasty. Another example is the bronze inscription "Fang Zun" in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which records that in addition to being the commander-in-chief of the "Western Six Departments" that guarded the royal family, the life side was also responsible for appeasing the Dongyi and ruling the "Eight Pubs" or "Eight Pericles" of the East. These records are the same as those of Ding Yu, Ducktin and Jiang Mumu Porter.
The patterns, reliefs, semi-reliefs and other decorations on bronzes have a unique historical view and style of the times. Therefore, these decorative patterns are also an important part of bronze books. The artistic decoration of bronzes mostly uses animal images. Many animals in nature are closely related to human production and life, such as fish, frogs, turtles, silkworms, sheep, cattle, elephants and birds. Among all kinds of animal patterns, the most distinctive one is the animal face pattern, which was popular in Shang Dynasty and early Western Zhou Dynasty.
The animal represented by animal facial lines is characterized by huge eyes, staring, wide mouth, fangs or serrated teeth in the mouth, a pair of ears or horns on the forehead and a pair of sharp claws. This image mainly shows the head characteristics of animals. This decorative pattern was later called gluttonous pattern by scholars in Song Dynasty.
According to ancient myths and legends, gluttony is the "gifted scholar" of the man of God, Jinyun. It is too greedy for human beings, putting people in its mouth, but it can't swallow them. In the end, I hurt myself and became a headless monster. Ancient Confucian scholars believed that there were such decorative patterns in the west of Zhou Ding, the purpose of which was to let people know the truth of karma.
In all kinds of decorative patterns, dragons and phoenixes often appear on the surface of bronzes. Ancient myths and legends about dragons are closely related to the story of "Dayu controlling water". Yu was a hero who was half man and half god at that time. This fictional legend of the dragon is the visualization of the ancient people's fantasy of overcoming the flood.
In ancient times, water control was a major problem in agricultural production. At that time, people succumbed to the pressure of nature and could only subdue the flood with the help of imaginary gods. Later, the dragon was worshipped as a water god, symbolizing water. Talking about the paintings on clothes, Kao Gong Ji said, "Water is a dragon." The legend of the dragon has far-reaching influence and is still enduring today.
The phoenix on the bronze ware is a gorgeous bird of prey and a fictional thing. Businessmen think that black birds are their ancestors. The so-called "mysterious bird by destiny, born for business" fully shows that mysterious bird is a totem in Shang Dynasty, and mysterious bird is a phoenix. Phoenix birds are also wind gods, and the growth of crops is related to the wind, so the worship of phoenix is the worship of the natural forces of the wind.
In addition to the above, there are geometric patterns and decorative patterns related to people's activities, such as feasting, dancing, hunting, fighting and mulberry picking. Portraits of figures reflected the life of the aristocratic society at that time, and created a precedent for stone relief and brick relief after Qin and Han Dynasties.
In a word, the inscriptions on bronzes recorded many ancient documents, and the ornamentation on bronzes also reflected a lot of information at that time. Because inscriptions and ornamentation occupy an important position in the history of ancient books in China and have far-reaching influence, they are called "bronze books" by later generations.