China entered the Bronze Age in Xia Dynasty, and the technology of copper smelting and bronze ware manufacturing was very developed. Because the Zhou Dynasty called copper gold, the inscriptions on bronzes were called "inscriptions on bronzes" or "auspicious words"; This bronze ware was called "Zhong Dingwen" in the past because it had the largest number of characters on Zhong Ding. The age of bronze inscriptions is about 800 years, from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty's destruction of the Six Kingdoms. According to Rong Geng's Jin Wen Bian, there are 3,722 words in Jin Wen, of which 2,420 words can be identified.
Basic introduction Chinese name: bronze inscription mbth, also known as Zhong Dingwen origin: Bronze Age has been recognized: 2420 words type: seal script field: cultural nature: writing and reading: right to left, top to bottom habits: top to bottom, classification, production, casting, lettering, content, development, research, calligraphy, classification bronze inscription is the name of an ancient Chinese character in China. Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States. There are four kinds of inscriptions on bronze, namely, inscriptions on bronze in Shang Dynasty (about 1300 BC-about 1046 BC), inscriptions on bronze in Western Zhou Dynasty (about 1046 BC-77 BC-0/year BC) and inscriptions on bronze in Eastern Zhou Dynasty (about 770 BC-0 BC). Bronze Inscription in Shang Dynasty Even though there were bronzes before Shang Dynasty, the bronze inscriptions began after Pan Geng moved to Yin (now northwest Anyang, Henan). There were only a few figures at first, and by the beginning of the week, it had reached more than 200 words. At the end of Shang dynasty, there were many bronzes with bronze inscriptions, but the descriptions were still very brief, which were mostly taboo for the casters or their ancestors. Until the demise of Shang Dynasty, there were only articles, but the longest article at that time was still only forty words. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Shang Dynasty, the bronze inscriptions gradually flourished, and recorded many things about the Emperor, such as Wang Zhao's southern tour and Mu Wang's inauguration ceremony. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, bronze inscriptions were transferred from Pingtung to Wangdong, and iron wares gradually became visible, and bronze music such as bells gradually increased, which could also be cast on the outside of bronze wares. Therefore, the bronze inscription records not only the affairs of princes and ministers, but also the records of merits and standards. At this time, bronze inscriptions were widely used and called the heyday. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, Qin Shihuang's bronze inscriptions unified the whole country, imperial edicts were written in the same language, and monuments were erected in all directions. They all used the seal script, and the inscriptions on Zhong Ding were no longer engraved, so the inscriptions on bronze inscriptions gradually declined. Until the Han dynasty, people cast more inscriptions on iron, and bronze vessels were no longer used, so there were no inscriptions on bronzes in history. The bronze inscriptions in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties were cast on the inside of the bronze, but how to engrave the bronze inscriptions on the mold is still uncertain. According to a large number of molds found in the factory, the production method of bronzes is as follows: 1. Make a clay blank (model) about the size of the finished product. In addition, the model is wrapped with clay, and the outer clay is dried and cut into the outer model. 2. Cut off the outer layer of the model and use it as an internal model, and carve patterns and characters on the internal model. Assemble the outer mold and the inner mold, put a copper sheet between them as a gap, and inject copper liquid. 3. Inject molten copper, cool and break the mold, and take out the bronze ware. Engraving adds words and patterns to the internal model, which is still a mystery. Because the bronze inscription inside the bronze ware is concave, the words on the internal mold should be convex. Coupled with these lettering techniques, there are various hypotheses: Shang and Zhou inscriptions 1, the soil dissolves into mud and gradually pastes. This is a hypothesis put forward by Ruan Yuan, the authority of epigraphy in Qing Dynasty, but there is no empirical experiment. 2. Paste a thin layer of clay on the internal mold, and then cut off the excess. This is a hypothesis put forward before the Republic of China. The craft will inevitably cause traces on the internal mold, and there will inevitably be traces on the bronze ware, but in fact there is no trace. 3. Carve words on wood chips or tortoise shells, fill them with clay, and then transfer the clay to the internal model. The experiment proves that this method is feasible, but no relevant physical evidence is found, which can only be regarded as a hypothesis. Jin Wen is very much like Oracle Bone Inscriptions. As early as the Han Dynasty, bronze inscriptions have been discovered and studied by scholars. Bronze inscriptions are the main materials for studying the characters of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and are also the most precious materials for studying the history of the pre-Qin period. Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Oracle Bone Inscriptions has thin strokes, more straight strokes and more twists, which is different from Fang Bi. Bronze brush strokes are fat and thick, with many curved pens and many lumps. There are different words in the inscriptions on bronzes. The content of memory is also very different. Its main content is mostly to praise the achievements of ancestors and princes, but also to record major historical events. For example, the famous Mao has 497 words, covering a wide range, reflecting the social life at that time. The inscriptions in the Jinwen Dictionary are records of activities or events such as offering sacrifices, giving orders, letters, battles, hunting, covenants, etc. at that time, which all reflected the social life at that time. Bronze inscriptions are neat and elegant, simple and heavy. Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, they are more diverse and rich. Bronze inscriptions are basically printed. These characters were discovered in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, when someone sent a tripod excavated in Fenyang to the palace, and Emperor Wu named it Ding Yuan. Later, Jin Wen made one discovery after another. Ouyang Xiu and Zhao Mingcheng were scholars in Song Dynasty. They were both good at writing, studying and recording inscriptions on bronze. The Mao inscription in the casting is very representative, with 32 lines and 497 words, which is the earliest bronze inscription unearthed. Mao's inscription is rigorous in structure, thin, smooth, even and neat, and it is a fine work in the bronze inscription. In addition, the inscription of Dahepan is also a masterpiece of bronze inscriptions. Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the earliest developed city, disappeared with the death of Yin, and bronze inscriptions took its place and became the mainstream of calligraphy in the Zhou Dynasty. Because it is engraved on the Zhong Ding, it is sometimes called Zhong Dingwen. According to the investigation, the bronze wares of Shang Dynasty were engraved with inscriptions similar to pictures, and then continued to evolve. The inscriptions at the end of Shang Dynasty were also consistent with those of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. This bronze inscription reached its peak in the Zhou Dynasty and lasted until the Qin and Han Dynasties. However, there were few artifacts and inscriptions in the Shang Dynasty, and the Qin and Han Dynasties reached the end, which should be regarded as the mainstream of the Zhou Dynasty. According to statistics, there are about 3,005 words on inscriptions on bronze, of which 1804 are known, slightly more than Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Bronze inscriptions inherited from Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and began with Xiao Zhuan in Qin Dynasty. Most of the books circulated are engraved on Zhong Ding, so they can preserve the original text better than Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and the style is simple. The heyday of bronze inscriptions is Zhou, which is divided into Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou. The Western Zhou tends to be complete and vigorous, resulting in the golden age of bronze inscriptions. The regional characteristics of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty were formed by the separatist regimes of various countries-so they are introduced separately. Western Zhou Dynasty: The Western Zhou Dynasty inherited the calligraphy style at the end of Yin Dynasty, and it didn't produce a unique style until it became a king. Calligraphy style is magnificent. After Zhao Mu, he became rigorous and correct. The development of academic culture will be influenced by social and political factors to some extent. In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, from Yin Ke, the king of Wu, to Kang Wang, due to the unification of the world, social stability and the rites and music of the Duke of Zhou, it was a peaceful and prosperous time, and calligraphers were able to show their vigorous and elegant style, and their contents were gradually lengthened. For example, The Great Yu Ding is the most typical representative work of this period. After Zhao Mu, the style of calligraphy changed gradually, and the strokes became unified from coarse to fine. The pen-receiving and pen-starting also changed from Fiona Fang to round pen; The lines are even and square, and the book style is extremely rigorous and correct. The representatives of this period are the elegant ode tripod, the elegant big tripod and the Mao Gong tripod with a little early style. Eastern Zhou Dynasty: After moving eastward, Qin moved the capital to Yong and inherited the hometown and culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Because of this, the characters of Qin in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are in the same strain as those of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Because of this, when the characters in eastern countries have horizontal variation due to regional characteristics and cultural reasons, the culturally backward Qin characters have become the orthodoxy of Chinese characters (even if we don't consider the fact that China was finally unified by Qin, we can think that in the history of Chinese characters development, Qin characters represent the mainstream of Chinese characters development, while the six-country characters represent the tributaries. Therefore, the characters in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period can be divided into two categories: Qin characters and Six Kingdoms characters. (The Qin script is from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, and the Six-country script refers to the eastern countries in the Warring States Period. ) General philologists are also called "western languages" and "eastern languages". After the Qin dynasty unified the six countries, it began to standardize the writing, which is the so-called "same language writing". The standardized characters in the Qin Dynasty were based on the Qin language, and the evolution of Chinese characters after the Qin Dynasty was also developed on the basis of the standardized Qin Xiaozhuan and Qin Zhuan's daily writing form. After the Qin Dynasty, the six-nation script was eliminated, and Qin Wen became the real mainstream. Therefore, Qin Shu is an important link in inheriting the ancient prose of the Western Zhou Dynasty, creating official script of the Han and Wei Dynasties, and even regular script. Its change can be regarded as a part of the evolution of Chinese characters according to their own internal structural laws. Therefore, as far as philology is concerned, the study of western languages in the Qin Dynasty is more important than that in the six countries, because they are direct blood relatives of Chinese characters, while the six countries are collateral branches, although they also influence and absorb each other. The bronze inscriptions in the Qin dynasty gradually came to an end, and there were not many stone carvings. After Qin Shihuang unified the whole country, testimonies, scales and stones were carved or cast on copper and iron and promulgated in the world. It is the masterpiece of Xiao Zhuan, which is characterized by beautiful curves, smooth shelves, neat and changeable, and unrestrained momentum. It also provides the most reliable and complete information for future generations to learn Biography. Compared with the study of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, China's study of bronze inscriptions has a longer history. According to the documents handed down from ancient times, such as Shuo Wen Jie Zi Xu, Han Shu Wudi Ji, Han Shu Jiaosi Zhi and Hou Han Shuming Di Ji, bronzes were unearthed one after another as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties. Since then, people have begun to pay attention to bronzes and their inscriptions. However, most researchers think that the bronzes produced from Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty are mostly regarded as auspicious things, lacking special works, thus ignoring the reasonable factors contained in people's understanding in this period. Mao Since Ruan Yuan, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, put forward that "from Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, there were very few antiques, even ancient ding, or the Yuan Dynasty was changed, which was called Shen Rui as the history of books", scholars have always said that the study of inscriptions on bronze must begin in Song Dynasty. But this statement is not necessarily the whole truth, which is found in textual research classics. From the Han Dynasty to the end of the Tang Dynasty, bronzes were found in historical records during the period of 1000, and the number was indeed limited. According to Fang, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, there are more than 20 kinds of ancient artifacts recorded in the history books of the Han and Tang Dynasties. The specific number of bronzes involved is unknown. However, according to the general situation recorded in Historical Records, the author speculates that the absolute number should be more than 50. Some of these bronzes are regarded as auspicious things and recommended to ancestral halls, and even exchanged yuan for them and made sacrifices. For example, according to the records of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wu was "above Fenshui", he changed his name to Ding Yuan. "Han Shu Suburb Sacrifice Records" also contains: "The beautiful sun is given to the tripod. Under the discussion, it may be recommended to visit the ancestral hall, such as the story of Ding Yuan. " But in the end, because "this tripod is small and has a sense of style", it is "not recommended for ancestral halls". It can be seen that not all bronzes were recommended to ancestral halls as gods, which existed in the Han Dynasty. In fact, bronzes from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty have always been regarded as fun and entered the private collection field, which is not unique to the Song Dynasty. According to "Historical Records of Xiaowu", Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty kept ancient bronzes. Nowadays, the bronze wares of Shang Dynasty have been found more than once in the excavated Han tombs, which also proves that as early as that time, bronze wares have become important objects in private collections. The same is true after Han. For example, in the History of Emperor Wudi of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the second year of Yuanxi, "There were more than ten ancient bronze ritual vessels opened by the river in Jingling County ... so they were all returned to Zhu and hidden in Xiangfu". From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty 1000 years, although there were no artifacts and inscriptions on bronzes, the academic atmosphere of studying bronze inscriptions was extremely weak as a whole. However, it is undeniable that there were many readers who interpreted Jin * * * roughly correctly in this period. As mentioned earlier, the story of "the beautiful sun captured the tripod" in the Han Dynasty was recorded in "Han Shu Jiao Si", and Zhang Chang, an ancient China writer at that time, gave a roughly accurate explanation of this tripod (that is, the corpse tripod). According to the origin of the tripod, it is inferred that it is a Zhou utensil, and according to the inscription, it is inferred that it was made by the king of Zhou as a praise minister. The descendants of the minister engraved the merits of their ancestors and hid them in the palace temple. His dating method and inscription interpretation are basically correct, and have influenced the research of later scholars. In fact, he has entered the research category of Jin Wen. Besides Zhang Chang in the Han Dynasty, Li Daoyuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Liu Xian, Liu Pei, Liu Zhilin and Jiang Yan in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Yan Feng and Lu Guangwei in the Tang Dynasty all contributed to the study of bronze inscriptions. Although their specific explanation methods are not described in detail, the correctness of their explanation results also reflects that their research methods should contain many reasonable factors. During the Five Dynasties Liang period, there was an upsurge of collecting and studying ancient cultural relics. Liu Gao's textual research on Zheng Xuan's so-called elephant statue was recorded in The Biography of Liang Shuliu. Although the result is not accurate, it proves that the wind of textual research has risen at that time. There are collections of ancient artifacts in the Liang Dynasty, such as Jiang Yanzan's bronze sword, which are mostly consistent with historical facts. It can be seen that the study of epigraphy at this time is at least in its infancy. Although the study of bronze inscriptions between Han and Tang dynasties was sporadic and accidental, especially no monograph was published, these sporadic studies and their contributions can not be ignored in academic history. The prosperity of epigraphy in the Song Dynasty was by no means water without a source or a tree without a root. It can be said that it was the discovery and collection of bronzes in the Han and Tang Dynasties, as well as the attempts and efforts of some researchers to interpret and textual research on epigraphy, which to a great extent accumulated and paved the way for the formal formation of epigraphy research expertise in the early Northern Song Dynasty, and was the inevitable result of long-term accumulation. In Qing Dynasty, Wu Shifen compiled the bronze inscriptions of Shang and Zhou Dynasties into a book "Historical Records and Bronze inscriptions", which collected a lot of information and had a great influence, thus defining the word bronze inscriptions. At this time, the so-called inscriptions refer to the whole inscription, not words. 1925, Rong Geng compiled inscriptions on Shang and Zhou dynasties into a dictionary according to the order of Shuo Wen Jie Zi, and inscriptions on Shang and Zhou dynasties became a calligraphy name from then on. Bronze inscriptions appeared in the middle of Shang Dynasty. Although there are not many materials, they are all earlier than Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins. The lower limit of inscriptions on bronze is when Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, that is, when Qin unified China characters with Xiao Zhuan. Song people paid great attention to inscriptions when collecting bronzes, such as Lu Dalin's archaeological drawings. There are also special inscriptions, such as Lu in Wang Qiu. When the words in the inscription were compiled into a dictionary, there was Zhong Ding Transshipment written by Chu Wang and Xue Shanggong. In the Qing Dynasty, due to the prosperity of Shuowen and the in-depth study of phonology and exegesis, under the influence of this style of study, the study of inscriptions made great progress, and experts appeared constantly, such as Zi Shuo, Shuo Wen Gu Shu Bu, Sun Yirang's Interpretation of Gu Shu and Gu Yu Shu Lun. Bronze inscriptions have a long history and are widely used. If the materials are not sorted out, the research work will have little effect. Scholars have understood this in the past. Wang Guowei's Preface to the Reading of the Stone and Zhou Yun clearly explains the concepts of time and place. Guo Moruo's Preface to the Great Series of Bi-Zhou Jin Ming said: "The time and the country are consistent, … the writing time of the Western Zhou Dynasty can be set or near, with 162 instruments. ..... is based on the country, and it also coincides with the year of the country, and it has won 160 articles from various countries. " This is an epoch-making pioneering work in the study of bronze inscriptions. 1985, the fourth edition of Jin Wen bian uses 3902 inscriptions, including 2420 words (literate) in the text and 3772 words (illiterate) in the appendix 1352. This is the total number of inscriptions that can be seen today. The pre-Qin written materials are not limited to inscriptions on bronze, but inscriptions on bronze are the main ones after all, which reflects the basic situation of the development and changes of China's written language during the period of 1000 years before the Qin Dynasty unified the written language with Xiao Zhuan. Calligraphy Jinwen calligraphy is a kind of calligraphy creation, which means Jinwen. The development of inscriptions on bronze in Dou Zhongliang's "Xunyi of Huainan Zishuo Mountain" promoted the development of calligraphy art, and the inscriptions on bronze in the Western Zhou Dynasty was a very mature calligraphy art, which was valued by calligraphy historians. It rewrote the traditional understanding that calligraphy can only be truly understood after the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and pushed the history of calligraphy art in China back to more than 3,000 years ago. The style of inscriptions on bronze is generally called Da Zhuan or Shu Shu, and some are also called Li Shu. The book is a historian in Zhou Xuanwang's time, and the book is his calligraphy. Bronze inscriptions are first carved with ceramic models of inscriptions according to the original ink book, and then turned over and cast. Due to the superb casting technology of bronzes in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the inscriptions on bronzes can generally reflect ink calligraphy's brushwork to a certain extent. Therefore, the inscriptions on bronze in Shang and Zhou Dynasties are actually a kind of calligraphy art in ink calligraphy. Bronze calligraphy in Shang Dynasty was produced on the basis of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. It has few words, slender font, vigorous and beautiful brushwork, dense style, rigorous structure, dignified situation and its own charm. Someone once summed it up as two styles, one is thick and plump, with sharp edges and corners at the beginning and end, with a fat pen in the middle, and the other is thick and thin, with straight strokes and little or no edges and corners. After the demise of the Shang Dynasty in the Zhou Dynasty, the craftsmen who cast bronzes in the Shang Dynasty returned to Zhou one after another. Zhou people inherited the merchant's bronze calligraphy and developed it into a unique bronze calligraphy. From the calligraphy style and style, Hong Yunkai's bronze inscription "The Story of Deng Yueyang Tower" in the early Western Zhou Dynasty shows that the overall situation is exquisite and beautiful, with obvious waves, rigorous structure and free brushwork. The style of his early works is simple and unpretentious, and the hanging needle brushwork is more upright, which still has the influence of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. For example, during the reign of King Wu, the fonts of Li Chan and Tian Wu Chan (or Da Feng Chan) were simple and simple, and the strokes of Fiona Fang were simple and straight. In just 32 words, Li Chan described the important historical events of the Wu Dynasty, so he was called the Wu Dynasty. This is the earliest bronze carving found so far in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which pioneered the calligraphy of bronze inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Later, the style was dignified and bold, which showed the unique art of inscriptions on bronze. Such as Ling and Bao 'e when they became kings, and the big and generous ding when they were kings of Kang. Calligraphy is simple and quaint, majestic and magnificent. The herringbone or people-centered characters, Wang characters and other characters are commonly used with fat pens, which are obviously heavy, and calligraphers call them "wave style". In particular, the bronze inscription on Dayu Ding, line *** 19, word 29 1, records the great achievements of Kang Wang's recall of Wu Wen Order and Yin Kejianbang. Its dignified and elegant characters, appropriate size and vivid form are the highest achievements of bronze calligraphy in Cheng Kang world, and its rubbings are still treasured by calligraphers.