Because the study of bronze dating in the Western Zhou Dynasty has been carried out in depth, the appearance of bronze inscriptions in the whole Western Zhou Dynasty is roughly clear. In view of the fact that the development stages of bronze inscriptions do not seem to be completely synchronized with the stages of bronze wares mainly based on shape and decoration, and in order to have a clear impression of the stage changes of bronze inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the development and evolution of bronze wares are summarized in the order of early, middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty. Although in a certain period of time, bronze inscriptions will have some popular and epochal styles. However, this does not exclude the embodiment of some unconventional personalities in the style of inscriptions, because the writers who wrote inscriptions at that time may not all be the same in style. Therefore, the following introduction to the characteristics of inscriptions at various stages is just a general talk.
The inscriptions on bronze in the early Western Zhou Dynasty can be summarized in two stages: the first stage, mainly the period of King Wu and the period of becoming a king, but some inscriptions on bronze wares in Kang Wang period (about earlier) still have the characteristics of this stage. In content, there are still many inscriptions of clan names with few words and their combinations with ancestors' Japanese names. Most of the bronzes with such inscriptions belong to the adherents of the Shang Dynasty who surrendered to the Zhou Dynasty after the subjugation of the Shang Dynasty. However, since this stage, there have been more long and longer inscriptions, which are related to many important historical facts in the early Western Zhou Dynasty and the official system and military system at that time. On the whole, at this stage, the bronze inscriptions have retained many points of the bronze inscriptions in the late Shang Dynasty. First of all, the layout is not regular enough, and it is still vertical and not horizontal. The font size is still uneven. Pictographic is still strong. Writing momentum is also more bold? The strokes are thick and dignified, some of them are thick and fat in the middle, while the ends are pointed, and the strokes are full of twists and turns. All these are similar to Shang Jinwen. The above characteristics can be known from the inscriptions of Li Chan in the King of Wu, Bao Chan in the King's Period, Hou Ding in the King's Period and Dafang Ding in the Kang Wang Period (about earlier). ?
the second stage, the period of King Kang and King Zhao. Most of the inscriptions in this stage are long or long, and their contents are similar to those in the first stage, and they are also related to important historical facts such as war, politics and conferment at that time. Inscriptions of clan names are rare. Different from the inscriptions in the first stage, most of the inscriptions are arranged more orderly than those in the first stage, not only vertically but also horizontally. However, there are still some inscriptions that are not uniform in the number of words and the size of words in each vertical line, which show individual irregularity in the overall neat situation. There are two font forms for inscriptions at this stage. First, the strokes of the font are still vigorous, and there are obvious twists and turns. Some pen faces are still thick in the middle and pointed at two ends. Such as Kang Wang's 23-year-old Da Yu Ding inscription. ? Second, the font has changed from the vigorous and bold style of writing in the past to regular and formal. The strokes of many numbers are even, but there are still some dots that are used as thick and fat pens, such as a stroke on the sky and a horizontal stroke on the king, which are all at the junction of the horizontal painting and the vertical pen. In addition, there are still twists and turns on the right side of some words. This form of inscription appeared in the period of Zhaowang, such as Yu Zheng Wei Gui and Qi Mao Ming. The above two glyphs belong to the mainstream of this stage. However, there is another loose form of inscriptions at this stage, and the number of words in each vertical column is basically the same. However, due to the different sizes of words, the horizontal rows are basically uneven and the glyphs have twists and turns, which seems to still have the legacy of the first stage. Only the strokes are thin and round.
The inscriptions in this issue of the bronze inscriptions recording the ceremony of registering the king of Zhou at the court only appeared, and gradually became a condom. Words such as "children and grandchildren will use it forever" became popular. In this issue, there are only a few inscriptions with family names. The font form can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage, mainly in the Mu Wang period, and some inscriptions in the * * * Wang period still have the characteristics of this stage. Inscriptions basically follow the small, regular and formal fonts that appeared in the above-mentioned Zhaowang period, and generally show a neat style. The pictographic character of the characters is very weak, and most of the characters representing the human body no longer kneel and the lower limbs extend downward. The second stage, * * * Wang Zhiyi Wang Shi. Some inscriptions still have some characteristics of the previous stage in the regularity of inscription layout and glyph structure, but the brushstrokes are different. The thickness has been consistent, and it has further developed into a linear direction. The twists and turns and thick and fat strokes no longer exist, which is obviously to make writing more convenient. In terms of glyphs, it has also changed from the formal form of the previous stage, which is more relaxed. The inscriptions of this style can be found in the inscriptions on the wall plates of the * * * king. At this stage, some other inscriptions are more unique in style and sloppy in layout. Although there are no twists and turns and fat pens, the fonts are more open and generous. From the above, we can see that the inscriptions in the second stage of this issue also have two styles: regular and rough, while the former is the mainstream. However, at the end of this issue, when the filial piety king was appointed, the form of bronze inscriptions in the late Western Zhou Dynasty appeared again.
in time, this period refers to the period from Yi King to You King. In this issue, there are many long inscriptions, most of which are condom-shaped etiquette books. Litigation about war and hell? And other aspects are also more common. When Xuanwang was proclaimed, the longest inscription of Mao Gong Ding appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was 499 words long and recorded Xuanwang's edict to Mao Gong. In addition, there are many sets of words at the end of the inscription in this issue, and phrases such as "boundless for ten thousand years" are popular. Especially in this issue, there are still many inscriptions belonging to verse, which are also very distinctive. In this issue, the inscription layout is neat and standardized, with horizontal rows and vertical columns. Clear long squares can be seen on a few inscriptions, indicating that at that time, the grid was drawn first and then the characters were written according to the grid. The characteristics of glyphs in this issue are obvious: first, they are generally rectangular, and the glyphs are similar in size; Second, the brush strokes are mostly thin and uniform lines, and only a few words, such as the word "Tian" on the first horizontal line, the word "Dan" on the next horizontal line are still polka dots, and the word "D" is still mostly written as polka dots. This kind of bronze inscription is old or called "jade-shaped". Because of the elegant glyph and neat ranks, the inscription in this issue is solemn and solemn as a whole. As mentioned above, this kind of "jade-shaped body" originated from the end of the middle period, but it only prevailed in this period. Such as: the inscription of Shi Songding in the Yi Dynasty, the inscription of Dakeding in the Yi Dynasty or Li Dynasty, and so on.
2 Qiu Jing; Only "Ode to the West Narrow of Hanyang River and Li Ming, the satrap of the capital of Hanwu" was finally signed as "Qiu Jing", so it is impossible to verify whether it is from Gansu.
official script of Han dynasty. The full name is "Ode to the Western Narrowness of Hanyang River and Yang Li Ming", and the seal number has four characters of "Hui 'an West Table", so it is also called "Hui 'an West Table". In the fourth year of Jianning (AD 171), at the moment of June, he made a cliff in Tianjingshan, Chengxian County, Gansu Province. This stone knot is ancient, solemn and majestic, with a simple and thick pen, and Fiona Fang, and its pen power is vigorous. Yang Shoujing commented: "The square is magnificent, and there is no missing end, which is especially valuable." At the end of the inscription, the writer is engraved with the word "Qiu Jing", creating an example of calligrapher's signature.
3 Wei Meng;
Zhongping was established in February in the third year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (186). Unearthed in Dongping County, Shandong Province in the early Ming Dynasty, Dai Temple in Tai 'an, Shandong Province exists. The content of the monument is that Wei Meng, an old official, remembers the achievements of Zhang Qian, a county magistrate. This monument was unearthed late and well preserved. His calligraphy is mainly based on Fang Bi, with rigorous and rich strokes, simple and vigorous strokes, which can be called the top grade among Han steles. Ancient and modern calligraphers have given the highest praise to this monument. It can be described as a monument to the integration of Han monuments.
4 seal;
seal: that is, seal. Guduo made sealing objects, put the seal on the sealing mud for verification. After Qin and Han dynasties, the seal of the emperor and king was often called the seal. "Guan Zi Jun Chen": "Fu Jie, seal, code, policy." Yin Zhizhang's note: "Fu Jie, seal, so show his faith."
5 Huanglong tablet;
The ode to the West Narrow in Chengxian County, commonly known as Huanglong Monument, is one of the three ode to calligraphy in Han Dynasty, all of which are original works of han li, and are treasures of ancient cliff stone tablets.