What is the origin of inscriptions on bronze in calligraphy?

Bronze inscriptions, also known as Zhong Dingwen, are words cast or carved on bronzes. Bronzes are usually called Zhong Ding, bells are musical instruments, and ding is a ritual vessel.

Copper is one of the earliest metals discovered and used by the ancients. The ancients used copper as gold, so they got the name of bronze inscription, which can also be called auspicious writing. Bronze inscriptions were originally a kind of calligraphy carved on bronzes, which recorded the civilization of the Bronze Age and also gathered the profound calligraphy of the pre-Qin period. The bronze inscriptions here are limited to the pre-Qin period, which is a narrow bronze inscription.

In fact, inscriptions on bronze cover a wide range, including inscriptions on bronze in Shang and Zhou dynasties, inscriptions on bronze in Qin and Han dynasties, and inscriptions on bronze in Shang and Zhou dynasties are big heads. In Huang Yun's Calligraphy History of Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there are: With the decline of bronzes at the end of the Warring States Period, there are fewer and fewer inscriptions on bronzes. By the Qin Dynasty, in addition to imperial edicts and Jeff, there were a little more words, and "in the name of things, to test their sincerity" gradually developed into the characteristics of bronze inscriptions in this period.

Inscriptions in Qin Dynasty played an important role in Qin Dynasty calligraphy. After the rise of stone carvings in Qin and Han Dynasties, stone carvings dominated, and inscriptions on bronze became less and less. It is easy to carve stone tablets and cast or chisel bronze inscriptions. Bronze inscriptions in the Han Dynasty only remember the names of some years and years.