China entered the Bronze Age in Xia Dynasty, and it was the heyday of bronze development from the late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Because the Zhou Dynasty called copper gold, the inscriptions on bronzes were called "bronze inscriptions". In the past, scholars called it "Zhong Dingwen" because of the most characters on Zhong Ding in this kind of bronzes.
Ding was originally a vessel, which gradually evolved into a ritual vessel and became a symbol of power and wealth in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The number of ding reflects the level of status; The weight of the tripod indicates the strength. The clock is an ancient musical instrument. Of course, this musical instrument is mainly used in important occasions such as sacrifices and ceremonies, so it is inseparable from the use of ritual vessels.
Because bronze inscriptions are mostly found in Zhong Ding, and Zhong Ding is related to the important activities of emperors and nobles, and their records are mostly sacrificial ceremonies, life-giving, letters, battles, hunting, covenants, etc., so bronze inscriptions show a dignified and dignified style in all aspects.
Early inscriptions on bronze and Oracle Bone Inscriptions coexisted, and some characters were more pictographic than Oracle Bone Inscriptions, just like a vivid painting.
The bronze inscriptions began after Pan Geng moved to Yin. At first, there were only a few characters in Zhong Ding's inscription. In the Zhou Dynasty, bronze inscriptions gradually became popular, and in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, bronze inscriptions were in full swing. Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the mature bronze inscriptions are neat and elegant, simple and heavy; Oracle Bone Inscriptions's brushwork is thin, with many straight strokes and many twists, while bronze's brushwork is thick, with many curved pens and many lumps. Get rid of stagnation and change in change.
The font of inscriptions on bronze inscriptions is generally called Da Zhuan or Shu Shu (the existing Shi Guwen font is the masterpiece of Da Zhuan). "Shua" is a person's name. He was a historian in Zhou Xuanwang's time, and he wrote calligraphy. Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Han Dynasty said: "Xuan Wang wrote fifteen pieces of Da Zhuan, which are different from ancient Chinese." He also said: "Children 17 years old test, mocking 9000 words, this is history." It can be seen that the sketch is the big seal script. Literacy textbook compiled by Zhou Xuanwang Shi Taishi, 15 articles, 9000 words.
Stepmother Ding (formerly known as Si Muwu Fangding) was made by Shang (or Zujia) as a sacrifice to his mother Wu. It is the largest bronze unearthed in Shang Dynasty and the representative work of bronze culture in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Now in China National Museum, it is the treasure of the town hall.
The inner wall of this statue of Fang Ding is engraved with the inscription "stepmother E", which is vigorous and plump, with many peaks at the beginning and end of the strokes and occasional thick strokes. Whether the word "Si" is "Si" or "Hou" is controversial in academic circles, and it has been a public case for decades. It was officially named "Simuwu" after it was unearthed, and it was not until 20 1 1 that the National Museum of China was officially renamed "stepmother Wu".
The excavation of stepmother Fang Ding is full of legend.
1939, 19 One night in March, Pally Wu and others in Wuguan Village, Anyang City, Henan Province dug up a giant like a manger in their ancestral grave, which was the stepmother Fang Ding, a bronze national treasure that shocked future generations.
At that time, the largest antique dealer in China made a special trip from Beiping to Anyang to see this tripod. After seeing it, he offered 200,000 yuan to buy the tripod, but he also made a request that the tripod should be cut into 10 pieces for the convenience of transportation. Because the cauldron was strong, the saw blade was broken and not cut into pieces. This Fang Ding escaped the fate of shattered. Unable to cut the tripod, Pally Wu buried the tripod in the ground and disguised it.
The news that Pally Wu dug up the treasure was soon known by the Japanese invaders who occupied Anyang, and the Japanese army sent troops to the Wu family to search. Pally Wu bought a fake bronze Ou from an antique dealer and hid it in his kang cave. Japanese soldiers entered the village again, went straight to the Wu backyard, uncovered Pally Wu's sleeping kang, and snatched the fake bronze Ou. Since then, the Japanese have been monitoring Pally Wu's whereabouts. Pally Wu was helpless, so he had to take refuge far away from his hometown and didn't return to Anyang until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
1946, the Anyang government of the Kuomintang learned the exact location of this tripod, dug it up and put it in the county government. Later, a Kuomintang officer transported it to Nanjing as a birthday present for Chiang Kai-shek and deposited it in the Central Museum of the Kuomintang government at that time. On the eve of Nanjing liberation, Chiang Kai-shek prepared to transport Ding to Taiwan Province Province and was intercepted by the People's Liberation Army. 1959 the new Chinese history museum was built, and this tripod is kept in the Chinese history museum (now the national museum).
Damengding
The main idea of the inscription in "Da Meng Ding" is: I told Yu about the founding experience of King Wen and asked Meng to help him well, and at the same time wrote down his reward.
The inscription of Damengding is the representative of bronze inscriptions in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. It has both Fiona Fang and brushwork, and the brushwork has obvious ups and downs and thickness changes. The overall style is rigorous and dignified, majestic and beautiful, and the layout is ingenious, reaching a very exquisite level.
Pan Shiqiang
Historical wallboard is an artifact in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty. The first half of the inscription records the achievements of the kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and praises the morality and martial arts of the contemporary emperors. The second half records the main merits of the ancestors of the historical wall family who made utensils and prayed for the blessing of their ancestors. It is a typical inscription that pursues filial piety.
Pan Shiqiang's inscription font is the standard font in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and its shape is unified. Compared with the inscriptions in the early Zhou Dynasty, the line thickness has not changed obviously, the strokes are symmetrical and round, and the text structure has been simplified. Style and style tend to be plain and simple, which is the first of its kind in later generations. It is a rare masterpiece of calligraphy.
Mao-Ding Gong
Mao is an artifact of the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and it is the bronze ware with the longest inscription in existence. The inscription can be divided into seven paragraphs, saying: At the beginning of his accession to the throne, Zhou Xuanwang was eager to revitalize state affairs. He asked his uncle Mao Gong to govern internal and external affairs, and be diligent and selfless. Finally, he was given a life jacket and a generous gift, so Mao Gong cast a tripod and told his descendants forever.
Mao Ming's writing style is in full swing, magnificent, solemn in structure, rigorous in brushwork, loose and elegant in composition, natural and unpretentious, showing a naive artistic interest. The inscription is full of incomparable classical beauty, which is a model work in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty, so that calligraphers in the late Qing Dynasty fell for it after they were unearthed.
San series board
Shisanpan is an artifact of Zhou Liwang period in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The content recorded the peace talks between the two countries at that time. This paper describes what has been paid to the land of San, and records the boundaries and boundaries of the land in detail, and finally records the process of taking the oath. The scattered countries cast this book on a plate as a national treasure.
As a writing in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the inscriptions on Sanskrit discs showed a slightly flat style. Inscription strokes are smart and straightforward, and the glyph structure is not fixed. Many long and short lines no longer show the laws of symmetry, uniformity and parallelism, but show various irregular interests. The words echo each other, grow with the trend, and the glyph opens, which is strange and vivid, meaning "grass seal"