This is a calligraphy work created with a golden brush.
Second, the style characteristics:
The popularity of bronzes as ritual vessels in the "ritual music" system promoted the rapid maturity of bronze inscriptions. The bronze inscriptions in the early Western Zhou Dynasty still retain the tendency of patterning and craftsmanship in the late Yin and Shang Dynasties, and the typical fat strokes are still widespread, with loose structure and unfixed text symbols, and have not yet formed a unique face in aesthetic style. In the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, bronze inscriptions gradually got rid of the influence of Shang Dynasty bronze inscriptions, and began to form their own style on the basis of "printing and quoting". The decorative fat brushwork gradually disappeared and became purely linear. In form, it changed the fixed unity of early structural symbols, and its structure was vertical, slender and graceful, round and restrained. Its aesthetic style swept away the dominant position of Shang and Jin inscriptions, showing a muddy and gloomy rational character. More importantly, the self-sufficiency of "xing" in the inscriptions on bronze in the Western Zhou Dynasty was strongly publicized, and the charm of pen and ink began to get rid of the process of casting and gaining independence. The lines are rich and elegant, dignified and natural, which is incomparable to Gao's rigid and stagnant line vocabulary.
In the late Shang Dynasty, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen, with writing with brush as the core, tended to merge in the form of lines. By the early Western Zhou Dynasty, with the decline of Wen Jia, the development of calligraphy itself had been reflected in the evolution of bronze inscriptions.
Undoubtedly, the establishment of the mainstream status of bronze inscriptions is the beginning of the overall trend of calligraphy to use pens, and it also comprehensively opens the origin of the evolution of brushwork.
Because bronzes are at the core of "rites and music" culture, under the firm control of the unified kingship, the style evolution of bronze inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty is relatively slow. Although the inscriptions on bronze in the Western Zhou Dynasty also produced a large span of styles, the differences in styles have not broken through the cover of similar styles, thus moving towards diversification of aesthetic styles.
In 22 1 year BC, Zhou Ping moved eastward, taking Luoyi as the capital and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and the history entered the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is a turbulent historical period in which ancient China society changed from slavery to feudalism. With the disintegration of ordinary kingship, the vassal States launched an unprecedented fierce merger war. In the field of cultural ideology, it broke the cultural monopoly of "ritual collapse and bad music" and "learning in the government", and a new cultural system centered on "scholars" began to rise in an all-round way. It shows the awakening of humanism in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. "Social disintegration and ideological liberation are linked. Skepticism and atheism became the general trend in the Spring and Autumn Period. The ancient witchcraft religious tradition since the Yin and Zhou Dynasties is rapidly declining and losing its sacred status. "
As a symbol of the "rites and music" system in the Western Zhou Dynasty, bronze civilization also declined in an all-round way like slavery in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Guo Moruo once divided Yin and Zhou bronzes into four periods, and the third and fourth periods coincided with the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Guo Moruo divided the third and fourth periods into open period and new period. He said: "the molding rate of bottle opener ... is simpler than the previous issue." Those with patterns and engravings are getting lighter and thicker. The thunder pattern, which flourished in the early stage, almost disappeared. He lost his authority, lowered the status of the vassal (such as Ding Jiao), turned the dragon into a phoenix, and became a disguised essay and essay ... Generally speaking, myths and traditions have been removed during this period. " "There are two forms of artifacts in the new era: degenerate and progressive. The degenerate style tends to be simple along the previous route, and many of them have no achievements. ..... The progressive pattern is light and strange, and the pattern is shallower and finer ... The patterns of the utensils are mostly repeated by the same printing plate, and the patterns are diverse, which is very different from each pattern in the previous two issues. The most common pattern is the pattern of flatfly or flatfly, which is a refinement of Kuiwen's early period. There are novelty inlaid with gold, leaps of feathered people and flying beasts, and animals attached to the body, mostly realistic. "
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, bronze ware, as a ritual vessel, got rid of the veil of religious witchcraft etiquette and sprouted the conscious pursuit of beauty. Fierce barbarism and terror have ended, and bronze civilization is on the decline. As a symbol of kingship and rank, bronze ritual vessels are no longer inviolable "artifacts". Chu Zhuangwang's "winning the championship" happened under this historical background, which showed that the collapse of the unified monarchy was inevitable.
Cut Lu Hunrong, chase Luo, defend Zhou Jiangbing, and set up a king to make Wang Sun work hard. Zi Chu won the prize for its size and weight, and said to him, "In virtue, it is not in the tripod ... Shang and Zhou dynasties are mighty, and the tripod moves to Zhou, and virtue is quiet, small but heavy; Its treachery is confusing, although it is big and light. There is a mountain at the foot of the mountain, and the king is determined to be humiliated. Thirty in the world, 700 a year. It is also an act of god. Although Zhou De has declined, his fate has not changed, and the weight of the tripod cannot be asked.
The collapse of the "ritual and music" system in the Western Zhou Dynasty made the bronze ware production as a symbol of "ritual" get rid of the absolute control of the royal family, and princes and ministers of various countries began to cast a large number of bronzes themselves, and the sacredness of bronzes used to worship gods and ancestors has disappeared. At the same time, due to the separatist regime of governors, the economic and cultural development between regions is extremely unbalanced, and the regional style of bronze inscriptions with "different sounds and different words" has gradually formed. Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the tradition of Jin Wen Zhou Zong has been broken, and diversified aesthetic patterns have begun to appear. This is mainly manifested in the regional style and color of bronze inscriptions. From the book style, according to the region can be roughly divided into four kinds:
The first type is Qilu type, which is distributed in Shandong, mainly including Qi, Lu, Qi, Dai, Zhu, Xue, Teng and Zhu.
The second category is the prototype, in Henan and Shaanxi, including Zheng, Wei, Yu, Guo, Cai and Chen.
The third type is Jianghuai type, which mainly includes Chu, Wu, Yue, Xu and Xu in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
The fourth type is Qin State, mainly Qin State and Jin State in Shaanxi and Shanxi today.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the tradition of Zhou worship in bronze inscriptions was strongly challenged by the regional calligraphy style. With the formation of diversified regional political pattern, the aesthetic integrity of bronze inscriptions has been broken, and the typical Da Zhuan tradition has been abandoned. Although Qilu-style inscriptions still maintain the gentle and sincere tradition of rites and music in the Western Zhou Dynasty, they have lost the grandeur, delicate lines and restrained and cold style in spirit. Compared with Qilu countries in the Central Plains, Qin has a relatively closed cultural concept because it avoids living in the land of the western regions. At the same time, in terms of cultural tradition, Qin has always been shrouded in Zhou Culture. Therefore, among the seven countries, Qin's calligraphy style is the most faithful to tradition. Wang Guowei's so-called "six countries use ancient prose, while Qin uses essays" refers to this phenomenon of book history. However, due to the fact that Qin lived with ethnic minorities, the folk customs were strong, and the state advocated the rule of law, so the book style was less gentle and more martial, which was already revealed from Qin Gonggui.
Chu Jinwen, who is in the Jianghuai cultural circle, distanced himself from the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty from the beginning, and formed the southern calligraphy style which is opposite to the northern calligraphy style. This has to be attributed to Chu's independent personality and subjective consciousness in the process of development and evolution. The reason why Chu was not covered by the Zhou Zong tradition in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period lies in the long-term opposition of the royal family in Chu and Zhou Dynasties: the relative separation of the Central Plains culture and Chu culture. "Twelve Years of Zuo Zhuan" records: "In the past, my late king Xiong Yi lived in Kang Wang with Lu, Wang, Xie Fu and Bird Fu. The four countries have points, but I have nothing. " When the Western Zhou Dynasty was enfeoffed, Chu did not get the knighthood of the Zhou Dynasty because of his meritorious service, which constituted the reason for mutual discord. "In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the northern monarch regarded Chu as a barbarian, and Chu also admitted to fighting with him. According to the inscriptions of bronze wares in the Western Zhou Dynasty such as Bird Gui and Ya, and some chapters in the Book of Songs, there were many wars between Zhou and Chu, and even they had made expeditions to the north and never returned. Chu and Zhou have long been at odds, and the cultural gap is deep. " However, it should be noted that the opposition between Chu and the Western Zhou Dynasty did not fundamentally limit Chu's absorption of the Central Plains culture, but only had a strong subjective color in the way and degree of absorption. The regional color of Chu culture is extremely strong. Chu people worship ghosts and witches, like divination and sacrifice, and still retain a strong primitive religious consciousness and totem worship concept in the later period of clan society. This is in sharp contrast with the rational spirit of the ritual and music culture in the Central Plains. This "witch" culture is reflected in the style of calligraphy, that is, Chu broke through the rational spirit of the bronze inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty and injected the charm of Chu Sao, thus forming the aesthetic style of Chu's cunning and elegant beauty. From Gong Chu Meng Zhong and Gong Chu Anti-Casting, which are recognized as the earliest Chu Jinwen, it can be clearly seen that Chu Jinwen has undergone a stylistic transformation while accepting the influence of the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In addition to the overall form, Gong Chumeng and Gong Chu's anti-casting also retained the features of the inscriptions on bronze in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and have shown their own characters in the space composition, line form and movement rhythm of the book. Ruan Yuan said that "Gong Chu Meng Zhong" and "Gong Chu reverse casting" in "Ji Gu Zhai Zhong Ding Qi Yi Shu Zhi" said: "The writing style is magnificent, unlike Qi Qi, which can suppress the domineering of Jingchu."
Chu Jinwen's early inclination towards Zhou Zong only lasted for a short time. Since the mid-term, the mixed seal script with floral style has formed the mainstream form of Chu, which has actually sprouted from the reverse casting of harmony. Judging from the evolution of the calligraphy style of Chu, the miscellaneous seal characters with different styles not only have a strong influence on the overall maturity of Chu, but also play a fundamental role in the transition from the whole seal character system to the official change. As the mainstream form of the calligraphy style in the south of the Yangtze River, the calligraphy style of Wu, Yue, Xu and Cai in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is also covered. From the aesthetic point of view, the appearance of flower-shaped miscellaneous seal characters largely stems from the totem worship of dragons and phoenixes of Chu people. They integrated the beautiful shapes of dragons and phoenixes and the cultural and psychological consciousness of totem worship into the creation of flower-shaped miscellaneous seals, thus making the flower-shaped miscellaneous seals a romantic deposit of the Chu people's witchcraft and SAO.
In the late Chu Dynasty, he abandoned the decorative intention of miscellaneous seal in the style of flowers and returned to the early tradition. During this period, Chu creatively combined the physical structure of the plate with the beautiful lines of flower-shaped miscellaneous prints, which promoted the overall maturity of Chu. In this period, the bronze inscriptions of Chu tend to be flat in the early and middle period, and the pen is more fluent and vigorous, with rich changes in frustration and grasping, thus breaking the stagnation of spatial modeling and gaining the free rhythm of time and space. This interest in cursive printing has actually shown the news of the official change.
The bronze inscriptions in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period showed a strong and conscious aesthetic consciousness because they got rid of the cultural burden of religious etiquette. As an independent aesthetic factor, bronze inscriptions in this period constitute an important content of bronze aesthetics. Therefore, increasing the aesthetic feeling of lines and making them decorative became the main driving force for the formal seal script to pay attention to style changes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. On the other hand, block printing has become popular, and it is popular all over the world because of its convenient processing and more beautiful writing. Bronze inscriptions with slender figure and beautiful lines stand out and become fashionable. "
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, while the bronze inscriptions generally pursued the aesthetic tendency, the simplicity and vulgarization of the calligraphy style became another important tendency of the regional calligraphy style in this period. For example, the phenomenon of grass cutting widely exists in Houmamengshu, bamboo slips of Qin Chu, ancient seals of Warring States, currency and heavy words, which can be regarded as a precursor to the official change to a great extent.
The bronze inscriptions in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, as a typical calligraphy style of Jianghuai bronze inscriptions, are different from Qilu bronze inscriptions and Qin bronze inscriptions in that they get rid of the shackles of politics and religion and show a pure aesthetic concept. In the end, the flower-shaped miscellaneous seal has become a passer-by in the history of books because of its tendency of non-literal craftsmanship, but the historical value of the flower-shaped miscellaneous seal itself is undeniable. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the combination of flower-shaped miscellaneous seal characters and grass tendency completely subverted the tradition of big seal characters and directly laid the foundation for official reform.