Pre-Qin art (21st century BC - 221 BC) includes the art of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties; before the Spring and Autumn Period, it was a slave society, and the Warring States Period entered a feudal society. With the expansion of social division of labor, handicrafts such as bronze smelting, pottery, jade, bone and tooth carving, painting and textiles have become increasingly sophisticated. In order to maintain the rule of slave-owning aristocrats and emerging feudal aristocrats and meet their needs for luxurious life, craftsmanship Fine arts and sculpture, painting, calligraphy, architecture, etc. have all achieved tremendous development.
First of all: bronze. There are Xia Dynasty bronzes (21st century BC to 16th century BC), which are of few types, small in shape, thin in texture, and underdeveloped patterns; Shang Dynasty bronzes (16th century BC to 11th century BC), which are dignified and solid in shape and have complex patterns. The bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty (from the 11th century BC to the 8th century BC) have many varieties and new characteristics; the bronzes of the Spring and Autumn Period (8th to 476 BC) have the artistic characteristics of the era of great social changes; the bronzes of the Warring States Period (from the 11th century BC to the 8th century BC) 475 BC to 221 BC), when the material culture had entered the Iron Age, the shapes were magnificent and solemn, and they were masterpieces of bronzes in the Warring States Period;
The second is sculpture art: there are bronze sculptures, the representative work-"Sanxingdui II" "The First Record of the Bronze Standing Figures in the Sacrificial Pit"; second, most of the pottery sculptures represent people, birds, insects, flowers, grass and other animals; third, jade carvings, with simple images, solemn shapes and beautiful colors; fourth, wood carvings of the Warring States Period, "Han Feizi - Xianxue" There is a record of "millions of elephant people". It shows that rich artistic imagination was already displayed at that time.
The third is painting: there are murals, which are all paintings of legends, historical stories and myths and legends. Silk painting - "Silk painting of figures, dragon and phoenix". In addition, the upper end of the silk painting is sewn and wrapped with thin bamboo strips and tied with a rope, which is used as a banner in funeral ceremonies.
The fourth is craftsmanship and architecture: lacquerware, pottery, brocade, architecture - the buildings of the Pre-Qin Dynasty have obvious class distinctions. The ruins of an early Shang Dynasty palace were discovered in Erlitou, Yanshi, Henan, which was a large wooden structure. , the roof has double eaves and four slopes, and the interior of the hall may be divided according to the "front-facing and back-facing sleeping" method. Secondly, there is the semi-crypt type, and there are two types of roofs: four-A type and two-sloping water type. Tiles began to be used in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Third, Dougong is also a major feature of ancient Chinese wooden architecture.
Calligraphy: The pre-Qin period was the gestation and formation period of calligraphy art in Chinese history, and it was also the formation period of Chinese characters. Mainly the oracle bone inscriptions from the Yin and Shang Dynasties - the abbreviation of tortoise shell and animal bone inscriptions. It has a strong pictorial quality, and its stipples and parts have not yet been finalized. There are many variant characters, large or small, and most of the strokes are folded in many directions. Thin, strong and straight, with a sparse and simple structure. Second, the Western Zhou Dynasty further promoted bronze inscriptions - that is, inscriptions on various bronze vessels. In ancient times, copper was called gold, so it was called bronze inscriptions. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the style of calligraphy began to change increasingly, with strange characters and different styles. The most praised writings at that time were the "Shiguwen".