Which dynasty is this bronze ware from?

Bronze ware is an instrument made of bronze alloy (alloy of red copper and tin), which was born in the bronze age of human civilization. Bronzes appear all over the world and are symbols of world civilization. The earliest bronzes appeared in the two river basins of Babylon, Cuba, 6000 years ago. Large bronze knives carved with lion images in Sumerian civilization are the representatives of early bronzes. More than 2000 years ago, bronzes were gradually replaced by ironware. Which dynasty is the bronze ware from? Please refer to!

Which dynasty was the earliest bronze ware? It appeared in the Babylonian Valley in Cuba 6000 years ago. Large bronze knives carved with lion images in Sumerian civilization are the representatives of early bronzes.

In China, it was 5,000-4,000 years ago, which was equivalent to the legendary Yao Shunyu era. According to ancient documents, people began to smelt and cast bronzes at that time. Among the Longshan Age sites in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, bronzes were found in dozens of sites after archaeological excavations.

Bronzes in China mainly refer to bronzes made of copper and tin more than 4,000 years ago, referred to as "bronzes" for short. Including cookware, food containers, wine containers, water containers, musical instruments, chariots and horses ornaments, bronze mirrors, hooks, weapons, tools and weights and measures. Appeared and prevailed 4,000 years ago until the Qin and Han Dynasties, among which the Shang and Zhou Dynasties were the most exquisite.

Small tools or decorations first appeared. There were bronze containers and weapons in the Xia Dynasty. In the middle of Shang Dynasty, the varieties of bronzes were very rich, and inscriptions and exquisite patterns appeared. From the late Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the development of bronzes reached its peak, with various shapes, rich and dignified inscriptions and rich patterns. Subsequently, the bronze matrix began to thin, and the decorative pattern gradually simplified. From the late Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, due to the popularization and use of iron tools, copper tools became less and less. During the Qin and Han dynasties, with the pottery and lacquerware entering daily life, the variety of copper containers decreased, the decoration was simple, most of them were plain, and the carcass was light.

Ancient Chinese bronzes are the great contribution of our ancestors to human material civilization. Although according to archaeological data, Chinese bronzes appeared later than some other places in the world, there is no place in the world where bronzes can be compared with ancient Chinese bronzes in terms of scale of use, casting technology, plastic arts and varieties. This is one of the reasons why China ancient bronzes occupy a unique position in the world art history and attract widespread attention.

When the bronze ware was really made, it was beautiful in color, golden yellow, and it turned green a little because it rusted in the soil. Because bronzes are completely handmade, no two pieces are exactly the same, and each piece is unique.

With the development of primitive society, Ding gradually evolved from a cooker originally used for cooking food to a ritual vessel, becoming a symbol of power and wealth. The number of ding reflects the level of status; The weight of the tripod indicates the strength. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Chinese bronzes formed a series of unique shapes: containers, musical instruments, weapons, chariots and horses. Bronzes are covered with gluttonous patterns, and the patterns of gluttony or the combination of characters and animal faces form the patterns of gods, reflecting the transition from primitive ignorance to civilization.

The single-edged bronze knife unearthed from Majiayao cultural site in Gansu Province is the oldest known bronze ware in China and the oldest bronze knife in the world at present. Identified by carbon 14, it is about 5000 years ago.

The length of this knife is12.5cm, and it is cast in single mode. There are no mature parts such as blood files and heads, which is typical in the history of tool formation.

Xia Dynasty was the earliest slavery dynasty in China. According to the dating project of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it started around 2070 BC (during the reign of the Xia Dynasty of Chuanqi family) and died around 1600 BC (the notes on the extinction of summer written by Shang Tang). Erlitou site in Yanshi, Henan Province is recognized by archaeologists as the capital of Xia Dynasty.

Bronzes in Xia Dynasty developed rapidly in the bronze history of China, and the area of bronze casting workshop in Erlitou site in Yanshi exceeded 1 10,000 square meters. Smelting bronzes were unearthed in the second to fourth phases, and there were also smelting traces in the bronze casting relics in the first phase.

At present, the sites of the second to fourth phases of the foundry have been cleaned up, leaving many pottery models, crucibles, furnace walls, copper slag, charcoal, some small bronzes and a small number of large bronzes around. Bronze ware is one of the main relics unearthed from Erlitou site, including ritual vessels, tools and weapons. [ 1]

Early Shang dynasty

(BC16th century-BC15th century)

It is equivalent to the cultural period of Li Gang in Shang Dynasty. The determination of carbon content of rammed soil in Zhengzhou Mall 14 is BC 1620, which is consistent with the establishment of Shang Tang, but the lower limit of Erligang culture is still unclear. Erligang site is divided into upper and lower floors. The difference between upper and lower bronzes lies not in style, but in the fact that the upper level has more development than the lower level. Many bronzes were unearthed in Zhengzhou in the early Shang Dynasty, because Zhengzhou Mall was the capital of the early Shang Dynasty. There are important tombs or cellars in Erligang, Baijiazhuang, Zhangzhai South Street, Yangzhuang, Nanguanwai, Gong Ming Road and Erqi Road. Generally distributed in the south and southeast corner of shopping malls. In the northeast and west of the city, there are also cemeteries for burying bronzes. Many early Shang bronzes were found in northern Henan. Important discoveries have also been made in Panlongcheng, Huangpi, Hubei, Bogang, Jiashan, Anhui, and Wucheng, Qingjiang, Jiangxi. Most of the early Shang bronzes found in the above sites and tombs are in the upper layer of Erligang.

Unearthed objects in various places include: Ding, Dading, Dafang Ding, Ling, Ling, Guan, Guan, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, Ling, and the bell casting plate. The early vessels were relatively simple, but a set of wine vessels consisting of Jue, Qian and Zha has appeared widely. The upper bronze wares in Erligang are well developed, and the bronze ritual vessels system in Shang Dynasty has been formed. The bronzes belonging to the lower level of Erligang are generally very thin, while some bronzes belonging to the upper level of Erligang are quite thick.

Bronzes in the early Shang Dynasty had unique shapes. Ding, Wei and other food containers must have one foot perpendicular to one ear, which is visually unbalanced. Cylindrical feet such as tripod and tripod are conically connected with the belly, which is because the casting technology of fan core was not mastered at that time. Fang Ding is huge, and the container part is square and deep, which is completely different from the rectangular trough-shaped Fang Ding in Yin Ruins. The shape of Jue inherited the cultural style of Erlitou, and the instrument was flat and flat. The process is very narrow and long. In addition to the flat-bottomed bronze coffins, there are also bag-foot coffins. Tapestry, Zun, Bu, Yi and other foot-ringers have+-shaped holes, which are equivalent to the upper-level foot-ringers in Erligang, and the+-shape has become a square hole. Some even left several gaps on the edge of the circle foot, such examples have been unearthed in Zhengzhou and Huangpi Panlongcheng. There is a big handle on the back of the tube-flow half-cover bag placed obliquely at the top, which is quite unique in this issue. They all have narrow lips, high necks and high shoulders, and their bodies are also very tall. In the early Shang dynasty, there were two kinds of pots with joists: long neck, small mouth, bulging belly and small mouth with hanging retort, and some pots with small mouth without joists.

The main decorative pattern of bronzes in the early Shang Dynasty was animal face pattern, which was composed of rough curves and all were deformed patterns. Except for the eyes of big animals as symbols, other stripes do not specifically represent all parts of the object, and most decorative patterns are flat-carved. Some main patterns are embossed, and the shoulders of the upper-level Zun and Qian in Erligang are decorated with high-relief sacrificial heads. One of the characteristics of this period is that all animal prints or other animal prints are not based on thunder patterns. In the early Shang dynasty, the geometric patterns were extremely simple, including some rough thunder patterns, single-row or multi-row beading patterns, and chest nail patterns.

In the early Shang Dynasty, there were almost no inscriptions on bronzes. In the past, people thought that individual turtle shapes were words, but in fact they were still decorative patterns rather than words. Determination of alloy composition of bronzes in the early Shang Dynasty: copper content is between 67.0 1 ~ 9 1.99%, tin content is between 3.48 ~ 13.64%, and lead content is between 0. 1 ~ 24.76%, so the composition is unstable. However, the high lead content makes the copper liquid keep good fluidity, which is suitable for the technological requirements of thin bronze ware wall in the early Shang Dynasty.

Middle Shang dynasty

(65438+ mid-5th century BC -65438+ 3rd century BC)

Several batches of bronzes were unearthed from Khan Lee culture period to Yin Ruins culture period in Shang Dynasty. These artifacts have some characteristics of the early Shang dynasty, but they have evolved a lot; Bronzes in Yin Ruins also have some characteristics. Typical examples are a batch of bronzes unearthed from the lower tombs in the west of Gaochengtai, Hebei Province, bronzes unearthed from the Shang tombs in Pinggu, Liu Jiahe, Beijing, and bronzes unearthed in Funan and Feixi, Anhui Province. It was also unearthed in Lingbao East Bridge in western Henan. Such artifacts were found in the first phase of Yin Ruins Culture, such as a group of bronzes unearthed from tomb 232 in Xiaotun and some bronzes unearthed from tombs 33 1 and 333 in Xiaotun. However, there are not many such artifacts found in Yin Ruins, but some artifacts in other areas are more typical and exquisite than those in Yin Ruins. At present, no metropolis in Shang Dynasty produces bronzes like Erligang or Yinxu. Before Pan Geng moved to Yin, merchants were holding elections. Earlier, they were in Pi River Township. However, after Erligang period and before Yinxu period, these bronzes existed objectively. Because this kind of bronzes have the transitional characteristics from early to late, some of them were broken in Erligang period, and some were broken in the early Yin ruins culture. These bronzes are widely distributed, and their production center was not in Yin at that time, so it is absolutely necessary to draw a stage called the middle Shang Dynasty after Erligang culture period and before the mature Yin ruins culture period. The upper limit in the middle of Shang Dynasty is not easy to determine, and the lower limit is about before Wu Ding.

During this period, the vessels close to the early days were Jue, Yi and Mo. Although the tail is similar to the early stage, the flow has been relaxed, and the appearance of a round knight is unprecedented. T-shaped foot appears on the lateral side of hollow vertebral foot, with the bottom protruding downward and flat bottom rare. Although there was a statue with a wide shoulder and a big mouth in the early days, this kind of modeling has developed greatly at this time. Such heavy and majestic shapes as the dragon and tiger statues and the beast faces in Funan never appeared in the early Shang Dynasty. This kind of bottle shape was also developed during this period, and the animal face bottle in Gaocheng is its typical one. In the early days, the high-profile retort developed into a style with low proportion and wide shoulders, and the giant beast-faced retort in the Palace Museum is its typical representative. At this time, the+-shaped and square holes on the pedal are smaller than in the early days. The outstanding change of tripod and tripod is that one ear is no longer opposite to one foot, forming an unbalanced shape, but three feet are symmetrical with two ears, which will become the fixed format of all tripods in the future. However, the method of suspending the core in casting has not been completely solved, so the hollow tripod is still connected with the belly of the tripod.

There are two types of decorative patterns. The first is the improvement of deformed animal patterns in Erligang period. The original rough lines become thinner and denser, such as the beast-faced tripod in Pinggu and the beast-faced knight in Feixi. However, the main animal faces of Longhuzun and Bogang in Funan have been refined, and the animal faces on the circle feet still maintain their early structure and style. The second category is the appearance of animal face patterns composed of dense thunder patterns and neatly arranged feather patterns. This kind of animal face pattern often highlights the eyes. If it is not a relief, there is no obvious difference between the head and the body. Examples in this regard, such as Buhe in Gaocheng and Taitai in the Palace Museum, use more high relief accessories, but the lines are rounded, which is different from the style of the later relief outlines.

In the middle of Shang dynasty, bronzes generally kept the habit of not casting inscriptions, but it was found that individual vessels had the maker's own family emblem, but no objects called sun ancestors were found.

Late Shang dynasty

(BC13rd century to BC 1 1 century)

From Wuding to Di Xin. Generally speaking, the archaeological stages of Duan site culture adopt Zou Heng's four-stage theory, that is, from Pan Geng to Xiaoyi as the first stage, from Wuding to Zujia as the second stage, from Xinzhi to Wen Ding as the third stage, and from Diyi to Di Xin as the fourth stage. Generally speaking, later discoveries did not cross this boundary. However, the bronze wares in Yin Ruins can be divided into three stages, namely, the first stage from Pan Geng to Wuding, the second stage from Zu Geng to Kangding and the third stage from Wuyi to Di Xin. In addition, there are some other sayings.

It may be nearly 200 years or less from the late Shang Dynasty to the late Wu Ding until Di Xin. In such a long period, according to the specific situation, it can be divided into two stages.

1, Late Shang Dynasty and Early Shang Dynasty: The new artifacts in this period include square, utensil and utensil. Square vessels have developed greatly, and almost all wine vessels are square. In terms of decorative patterns, animal images are more specific, and some even have a sense of realism. The distinction between the main grain and the ground grain is obvious, and the ground grain is often fine thunder grain, which is in sharp contrast with the main grain. The main patterns are mostly reliefs, and the styles are round and sharp. The inscription is mostly one or two words, which is the family emblem of the owner. In terms of shape, tripods vary greatly. In addition to the usual styles, there are also stepped tripods. Fang Ding is a rectangular trough with thick and short columns. Reed still has no ears, its abdomen becomes shallow, and its maximum abdominal diameter moves up. Tapirs develop into slender shapes, with enlarged horns, and the carved holes of the big cross degenerate into cross holes, which are either penetrating or impenetrable. The number of flat-body knights is greatly reduced, and the round-body knights are popular. The change of the coffin is the first time to see the animal head decoration on the coffin board. Three feet is obviously higher. Ge appeared, with a beard and a beard.

2. Late Shang Dynasty: As far as artifacts are concerned, Shoulder-less Zun and Flat-body Zuo are new typical artifacts, and chariots and horses first appeared. Most of them used the front-end artifacts of the late Shang Dynasty. The decorative patterns in this period were the most developed, and the level of artistic decoration reached its peak. Animal face patterns with animals and monsters as the main body have developed unprecedentedly. Decorative patterns are not only applied to the car body, but also to the bottom of some invisible parts. The overall style of the pattern is rigorous and solemn. In this issue, a long inscription appeared in the form of notes. But no more than three or four crosses. The inscription is exquisitely cast, including family emblem, ancestor sacrifice, reward, conquest and so on. As far as the shape of the tripod is concerned, in addition to the column foot, there are hoofs and feet; There are more round ding, and the straight ears are slightly outward. The biggest change of reed is the rapid popularity of binaural reed, which is basically the same as the previous section, and still has a slender main horn. The Jue has not changed much, but it is still a round Jue, the flat-bottomed Jue disappears, and the Jue column moves back. The animal head decoration is still visible, and the foot-wrapped coffin continues to be popular, but the coffin body is low and wide, and the column decoration is heavy. Gordo has a beard, and there are one or two clothes on the beard.

Chinese bronzes are not only numerous, but also rich in shapes and varieties. There are wine containers, food containers, water containers, musical instruments, weapons, farm tools and tools, chariots and horses, household appliances, currency, seals and so on. There is only one title in the wine category. There are more than 20 kinds of utensils, such as horn, ladle, ladle, statue, pot, ladle, Fang Yi, ladle and ladle. Each piece presents a different style in each era, and the style of the same vessel in the same era is also colorful, as are bronzes in different regions. From the perspective of cultural relics identification, it undoubtedly increases the difficulty of identification, which in turn makes research and appreciation more interesting and bronzes more attractive.

That is to say, the bronze age in China, including Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and early Warring States, lasted about 1600 years. Bronzes in this period are mainly divided into ritual vessels, weapons and miscellaneous vessels. Musical instruments are also mainly used for sacrificial activities in ancestral halls. The picture shows the bronze owl-headed lifting beam pot in the early Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which was held by Lu Mo Zhai (decorated by Zhiqiang), the heir of the lifelong single Japanese famous doctor Mori Seiichiro, and managed by legendary Japanese antique dealer Sakamoto Goro. This bronze is a private collection. According to its legality, bronze is one of the most recognized plates by experienced collectors. However, bronzes are precious cultural relics, and the state has formulated a series of policies and regulations to protect them and strictly control the circulation of bronzes. There are roughly two types of bronzes that can be legally circulated in the market: bronzes that were unearthed before 1949, circulated in an orderly manner, and clearly recorded as evidence; Bronzes returned from overseas. Therefore, bronzes have been tepid in the domestic market, and most of them are traded privately, while China collectors have only entered the international auction circle for about five years. Generally speaking, it refers to the period from the end of Warring States to the end of Qin and Han Dynasties. The traditional etiquette system has completely disintegrated, and iron products have been widely used. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ceramics had been greatly developed, and daily bronzes were further squeezed out of life. As for weapons, tools, etc. At this time, iron has occupied a dominant position. Bronzes in the Sui and Tang Dynasties are mainly all kinds of exquisite bronze mirrors, which generally have various inscriptions. Since then, there has been no development of bronzes except bronze mirrors.