By the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, the bronze inscriptions of various countries had formed relatively distinct characteristics of the times. There were also great differences in the bronze inscriptions of different geographical regions and even different countries adjacent to each other. However, there were many large and small countries at that time, and the bronze inscription materials available today are not enough to carry out detailed research on each country. Based only on the existing data, the following is an overview of this stage of bronze inscriptions roughly divided into four regions. These four regions are Qilu in the East, Jin in the Central Plains, and the southern states. Guanzhong (Qin). This area is rich in data on the bronze inscriptions of the State of Qi. From the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, two styles of Qi Jinwen appeared. The first style: the glyphs are long and neat, the strokes are smooth, and the vertical strokes are often long, hanging and tortuous, making it appear solemn and elegant. For example, the inscriptions on the so-called four vessels of the Marquis of Qi (ding, dun, pan, and zi) were unearthed in Yi County. However, the font of the inscription on the Qi Hou vessel is very similar to the inscription on the Qi Hou vessel produced in Yi County.
At the same time, Qi's bronze inscriptions had another style. The character shape is relatively square, the strokes are relaxed, and the style is relatively bold. For example, the Guochai inscription, and the inscription "Da Xie" of Huanzi Meng Jianghu that has been handed down from ancient times can also be classified into this form, but the layout is more sloppy. Although the calligraphy of the above two forms of bronze inscriptions of the Spring and Autumn Period and Qi State are different, the glyph structure is consistent. This can be seen by comparing the above Qi Houmen inscriptions, Jinbo inscriptions and Guochabo inscriptions. Of the two forms, the former is a deliberately processed artistic font, while the latter is close to the popular handwriting, or popular font.
The State of Lu is adjacent to the State of Qi, but the bronze inscriptions of the State of Lu in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period rarely have the slender, neat and multi-pendled fonts of Qi's inscriptions, and the calligraphy of most inscriptions is still more The style of bronze inscriptions of the late Western Zhou Dynasty is retained, which is steady and honest. This may be related to the fact that Lu State preserved the most Zhou rites. However, the sizes of the gold characters at this stage are no longer the same. Compared with the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the strokes of individual fonts are also circuitous, and the layout is often looser. Reflects the style of the times. More typical fonts, such as the Yuanpu inscription of Situ Hou of Lu University, and the white inscription of Zhong Baidi of Situ Zi of Lu University.
At this stage, Qi and Lu Jinwen not only had certain differences in calligraphy style, but also in the customary glyph structures. Of course, there were ***similarities in some characters. , more special writing methods, such as the upper strokes of the character "Shou" (the prefix of "老"), this point has been noticed by scholars. However, the difference in the font structure of Qilu bronze inscriptions is more eye-catching. For example, compare the Baiqi inscription of Lu Da Situzi and the Qihou Yu inscription. The difference in font structure can be seen by the way of writing. The above differences in the Qilu bronze inscriptions illustrate that the increasing political independence and regional separatism of various countries have deepened the cultural gap, even if they are geographically close. In the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, the political center of the Jin State was still in southern Shanxi, and the land could belong to the Central Plains. Not many inscriptions belonging to the Jin Dynasty at this stage have been discovered. The Luan Shu Fou now in the collection of the China History Museum, because the name "Luan Shu" in the inscription appears in "Zuo Zhuan", it was from the time of Jin Jinggong and Jin Ligong, and was active in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, so it is generally believed that this fou is Luan Shu made. In recent years, some scholars have proposed that the shape of this vessel is Chu, and the writing also belongs to the Chu system. Those who hold this theory have two theories about the age of the vessel: the Warring States Period and the late Spring and Autumn Period.
The inscription on the belly of this vessel is in gold. When the inscription is inscribed, the eight characters are written in Yin.
At this stage, we can see the inscriptions on Jin vessels. Jin Gong laid the vessel as the late Spring and Autumn Period. The vessels were inscribed on Jin Gong, including Ping Gong (557 BC to 532 BC) and Ding Gong (511 BC). 1 former 477) and other statements. The layout of the inscription is scattered, with no rows of horizontal lines, and the characters are of different sizes. However, the strokes are thin, strong and folded in many directions. The style of the inscription is close to that of the Houma League script, so it should belong to the popular handwriting style at that time and was not deliberately processed. The bell, which dates back to the late Spring and Autumn Period, is a weapon of the Wei family. Its inscription style is close to that of Jin Gongdian, but with more round pens. In addition, there is the eldest son Gouchen Yan (Wenwu, Issue 7, 1964). The eldest son belonged to the Jin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period. The layout is loose and the font still has the style of the late Western Zhou Dynasty, but there are also many round pens and the style is softer. Another famous inscribed artifact from the Jin Dynasty in the late Spring and Autumn Period is the Zhao Mengxu teapot unearthed in Huixian, Henan, and is now in the British Museum. The inscription records the meeting between Jin Dinggong and Wu King Fucha in Huangchi in 482 BC, and it is known that the utensils were made in the late Spring and Autumn Period. The inscription is obviously different from that of Jin Gongdian. The characters are long and slender, and the strokes are neat and smooth. It is obviously a solemn and artistic font.
From the several inscriptions mentioned above, it can be seen that the styles of Jin Dynasty's inscriptions in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period are more complex, but they can be roughly classified into two types: handwriting (or popular style) and artistic style. The former has Differences between square fold pens and round pens.
The so-called southern countries here mainly refer to the countries in the Jianghuai River Basin or adjacent to the Jianghuai River Basin at that time, including Cai, Xu, Xu, Chu, Wu, Yue and other countries. The Song Dynasty is relatively far north, but judging from the shape of its inscriptions, it can also be included in this introduction. There are roughly three forms of bronze inscriptions in this area:
The first is a more casual font, which can also be called handwriting or vulgar style. Characteristics are that the characters are rectangular or slender, with more round pens, which are slightly rough, and the strokes are mostly elongated and have curved ends. This style of calligraphy is probably derived from the above-mentioned style of inscriptions by Chen Boyuan and Chu Ying in the early Spring and Autumn Period. The size of the inscriptions in this form is not uniform, and the layout is not very regular, such as the following inscriptions on the vessels: Xu Wangyi Chu Yun, Song Gong Luan Yan, Chu Prince Shen Zhan.
Second, a neater artistic font. The character shape is long and thin, the strokes are thin and vigorous, the vertical strokes are straight, and the strokes are often tortuous. The parallel strokes are parallel and meandering, which is highly decorative. For example, the following inscriptions on the vessels: Wu Wangsun Wu Ren Ding, Cai Gongzi Yi Gong Wei, Xu Zhuang Wei. The inscription on the bell of the grandson of the King of Chu is a bit sloppy, but it can be roughly classified into this form.
Thirdly, special patterned fonts, the so-called bird and insect scripts, often appear in the form of gold inlays. They are noble and gorgeous, rich in decorative effects, and were popular from the late Spring and Autumn Period to the early Warring States Period. This type of calligraphy can be subdivided into two types: insect script and bird script, but sometimes they are both used in the same inscription. Bird script is also called bird seal script. The strokes are drawn in the shape of a bird, that is, the words and the bird shape are integrated into one, or bird shapes are added next to the words and above and below the words for decoration, such as the sword inscription of King Goujian of Yue and the sword inscription of King Yuezhou. They are mostly found in weapons, and a few are found in containers and seals. They can still be seen on ritual vessels and seals of the Han Dynasty, and even on the foreheads of stele in the Tang Dynasty. The strokes of insect calligraphy are deliberately winding and winding, with the middle part bulging, the head and tail pointed, and the long legs hanging down, just like the curved body of an insect, hence the name. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, Prince Wu of Chu's inscription, except for a few words in the "Niao" script, most of them belong to the "Chong script". Prince Wu and Yu Geming also wrote about birds and insects. Chongshu can be found not only in containers and weapons, but also in ancient seals of the Warring States Period, bronzes, seals, and tiles of the Han Dynasty. Its name was also listed as one of the "Eight Types of Qin Shu" in Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi Xu", which shows that it is also Traveled in the Qin Dynasty. Regarding the development and changes of the Bird and Insect Book, please refer to Rong Geng's "Niao Shu Kao" ("Journal of Sun Yat-sen University", Issue 1, 1964) and Ma Chengyuan's "Niao and Insect Book Review" ("Ancient Character Research" No. 10). Few Qin bronze inscriptions from the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period have been discovered. Judging from the available data, it is quite obviously different from the bronze inscriptions of the Eastern and Southern countries at that time in terms of glyph structure and calligraphy style. The early mid-Spring and Autumn Period Qin Gong Gui inscriptions unearthed in Tianshui, Gansu Province in 1919 are representative of Qin bronze inscriptions at this stage. Comparing this inscription with the Qin Gongpo inscriptions in the early Spring and Autumn Period, we can see that the Qin bronze inscriptions at this time inherited more of the characteristics of the early Qin bronze inscriptions in the Spring and Autumn Period, that is, they still have the legacy of the late Western Zhou Dynasty bronze inscriptions. Qin Gong Bo, Qin Gong Gui Inscription and Shigu Wen are similar in both glyph structure and calligraphy style. Scholars have different opinions on the age of the Shiguwen, but most scholars still believe that its time range is within the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period. The text structure and style characteristics of Qin Gonggui are closer to those of Shigu inscriptions than those of Qin Gongbo.
The characters of Qin Gongbo are more stretched and rounded, while the characters of Qin Gonggui, like the Shigu characters, appear to be more rigorous and square in structure, more regular in glyphs, and the writing style is rounded. It is a circular pen, which shows that the Qin Jin script began to be further transformed in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, becoming more standardized and gradually approaching Xiaozhuan. After the chronological turbulence and differentiation in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, by the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the evolution of social, political and economic forms had undergone a leap. The traditional aristocratic politics transformed into a new centralized politics, the emerging landlord class entered the political stage, and society Every aspect of the structure takes on a new look. This situation was reflected in the bronze ware. Not only did the ritual system undergo certain changes, but the connotation of the bronze inscriptions also underwent great reforms compared to the Spring and Autumn Period.
As for the content of the inscriptions, there are still formulas on copper containers in the Spring and Autumn Period that praise ancestors and wish family unity and prosperity, but they have become much less common since the early Warring States Period. Such inscriptions that are seen today only lasted for a long time on Tianqi bronzes, and can still be seen in the middle of the Warring States Period. Not many artifacts from other countries have been found. Generally, most of the copper vessels simply record the reason and the reason for the casting. The owner of the vessel. After the middle period of the Warring States Period, with the further development of centralized politics, the government strengthened its control over the handicraft industries related to weapons and weights and measures, which greatly expanded the carrier of inscriptions. At the same time, "Wule Gongming" ("Notes. Monthly Order") appeared in the inscriptions. 》), recording the official title of the person responsible for supervising the production of bronze wares, the name of the foreman and the name of the craftsman who directly cast the wares, which is mostly seen in weapons, measuring instruments, etc.
For other wine vessels and food vessels, the place of use and the official position of the person in charge are recorded. The measuring instrument records the capacity, weight and place of use.
Due to the lack of information on the inscriptions on the wine and food utensils in the copper containers of the Warring States Period, the changes in fonts cannot be systematically explained. We can only give a general introduction to the characteristics of bronze inscriptions in several countries (or regions).
The bronze inscriptions of the Qi State in the early Warring States Period have some characteristics of the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, but they have been modified. For example, the Chen Manfu inscriptions retain the slender and neat style of the Qi bronze inscriptions in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period. Form, but the kind of deliberately long, circuitous and graceful strokes is rare now, and the strokes are full of twists and turns. By the middle period of the Warring States Period, the calligraphy style of Qi Jinwen had undergone major changes compared with the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period. Although the arrangement of the bronze inscriptions on the copper wine and food utensils is relatively regular, and the fonts are rectangular, the calligraphy style is close to handwriting (a popular secular style), with thick and simple strokes, and many characters already have the richness of this period in their glyphs. local color. The inscription of Chenhou Wudun in the 14th year of the Warring States Period is a typical font found on bronze ritual vessels of the Qi State in the middle and late Warring States Period. For example, Chen Chunfu, Zihe Zifu, etc. have similar inscriptions to this one.