Bronze patterns unearthed in Lucheng City of Changzhi were explained
"Central Plains Cultural Relics", No. 01, 1989
In 1955, the Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Administration Committee excavated a number of Eastern Zhou tombs in Changzhi, southeast of Jin, of which the 12th Warring States Tomb contained a bronze seal with an engraved drawing. In 1983, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology excavated in Lucheng Luhe, southeast of Jin, and found a broken bronze mound engraved with a pattern in the No. 7 Warring States Tomb. The author would like to share his views on the content of the patterns of these two pieces, the techniques of arts and crafts, and the social background they reflect.
The text introduction of the copper za from the Changzhi Watershed is very simple, only recorded as: a "copper za, a very broken piece, the whole shape is not easy to see, leaving only a section of the large stream, the wall of the vessel is very thin, and the inner - part of the stream is carved with houses, animals and birds, trees, characters, etc." "Let's take a closer look at this pattern (Fig. 1) Although the existing copper mound is broken, it can still be clearly divided into two parts: bounded by the hyperbolic curve on the neck of the middle stream, the picture above 'is centered on two colors, supplemented by a jumping antelope (?)). ): The pattern of birds on both sides and upper parts with flowers and trees. Obviously an embellishment of the picture. The following part is the central content of the painting: the spacious and tall courtyard building is magnificent, with a bird coil on the eaves of the roof ridge; there is a line in the middle of the room, and three water vessels such as copper and za are placed side by side on the offering. Given that the pattern is crippled, it is impossible to see the whole picture, but judging from the situation of a sword-wielder who bows to the left at the left margin, the whole composition is axisymmetric. To the right of the first row are two nobles wearing top hats, robes, and swords at the waist, holding an object to the right and bowing to him to the left; the third 'is a nobleman with a long hand. The second line shows again. In another scene, the nobleman in the middle is taming birds for entertainment, and the nobleman on the right is leaning forward with a watch, behind him is a samurai who has fallen to his knees.
Based on the above, it can be inferred that this is a picture that reflects the life of the slave owners and nobles. The content of this pattern is basically the same as a bronze mound from the Chu Tomb no. 5 in Changsha Huangnikeng, which not only shows that the costumes of the figures in the pattern are the same as the buildings of the court, but also the movement posture of the characters in the pattern is roughly the same, indicating that the two patterns are intended to represent an activity or ritual of the nobles of the same identity. So, what kind of ritual activity is this? We contrasted with the pattern of the fine line engraving on the Zhao Gu M1 bronze book in Hui County, Henan Province. It will be found that the pattern of the Changzhi copper gram is the same as the first line in the middle of the Zhao Gu copper jian pattern in Hui County (Figure 2), and if the inference of the original report is correct, this bronze pattern represents the ancestral temple or table sacrifice ceremony often held by the nobles.
According to the Changzhi Watershed Excavation Briefing: "Tomb No. 12, vertical pit, east-west long large square pit, 20 degrees east-north. There was a pile of charcoal around the surrounding area, "W can see that the owner of the tomb is a slave owner noble with a certain status." Judging from the burial bronzes of the tomb, there are five pieces of Lieding and three pieces of copper grates, two of which are very small. According to books such as the Three Rites, Zhou Tianzi and the princes could use the Nine Dings, the Shang Dafu (Qing) could use the Seven Dings, the Lower Doctor could use the Five Dings, and the scholars generally could only use the Three Dings. The system for using musical instruments is: Zhou Tianzi can use four sets of chimes (Bo), princes can use three sets, doctors can use two sets, and soldiers can only use one set. Measured by this standard, the shengding buried in tomb No. 12 already has the specifications of the lower doctor; but there are only three grates in the tomb, and two of them are very small, which does not meet the provisions of the lower doctor's five dings with four yuan. In addition, there is no set of ceremonial musical instruments in the tomb, and the identity of the tomb owner has not reached the level of the lower doctor, and his identity is most likely to be a soldier. Although there are five dings in the tomb, in the Warring States tomb, this phenomenon of "arrogance and transgression" is not surprising!
According to the Book of Rites, "When the grand masters and gentlemen meet each other, although they are not inferior, the master respects the guest, he worships the guest first, and the guest respects the master, then he first meets the master." "The content expressed in the Changzhi copper-zag pattern is consistent with this record, indicating that the identity of the nobleman in the pattern can only be seven or the lower doctor I fl 1 is that I can think so: the content expressed in the copper-za pattern is a true portrayal of the life of the tomb owner!
If the pattern of the copper zaku excavated from the Changzhi Watershed has a new style of simplicity and realism, then the pattern of the copper zag produced by Lucheng is even stronger.
According to the Lucheng excavation report: "Za, a piece 'M 7:105)." It is broken and the body is elliptical and shallow. Front rod flow, rear ring ears (Figure 3). The tire is as thin as paper. Pass height 6 cm. Fragments are engraved with fine patterns. Three fish are carved into the stream, one is inverted in two. The abdomen is carved with palace buildings, the top of the palace is surrounded by birds flying, and the surrounding trees are contrasted; on the right side of the hall, a samurai with a sword sits and drinks with a horned cup, and two samurai dance in front of him, the former of whom also wears a sword. On the other side of the abdomen is carved an attack map, and two teams of warriors fight on the field. The first person in the first column, from the left, wears armor, holds a shield in his right hand, and dances a sword in his left hand. The second man, who struck the drum with his right hand and Ding Ning with his left hand, was directing the battle, with an enemy's head at his feet. The third man stood upright with his halberd and stared ahead. The fourth man holds a shield in his right hand, a object in his left hand, and a sword at his waist. The fifth man carried a spear on his shoulder, and a goose above him spread its wings and flew. The latter three seem to be back-ups. The first man in the second column took a bow and arrow, and behind him lay a headless corpse with an arrow. The second man, wearing a helmet and holding a spear and lifting a man's head, was charging toward the enemy position. Three or four people, one on their back, one half squat. A bird behind him. Below is a ripple band, followed by two swimming fish. Another fragment corresponds to this one, which is about the other side of the battle. The four samurai carved had bows and arrows, some raised their shields and spears, and the last one fell to the ground with two arrows. Pick a man's head on a spear below. There is also a fragment of three people carved, the first one bending down and raising his arm, and the latter two boiling water. Fly two geese on your head. "The account of the pattern is very detailed, but due to the broken copper, it is not possible to restore all the patterns. However, if you look closely, you will find that the pattern is composed of several different parts. In the lower right of the fragment of the "Samurai Drinking Diagram" immediately below the stream, there is a hyperbolic ripple band, which is exactly the same as the hyperbolic ripple band in the lower part of the third fragment below- this clearly means that one set of pictures and another set of drawings are separated by a ripple belt: from the analysis of the current situation, this pattern can be divided into at least four parts: first, the three-fish diagram of the copper stream: second, try the drinking map: third, the sergeant attack map; fourth, the three-person boiling water map and others. Several parts of the pattern are different in content. Seems unrelated to each other. But an important figure ding to make these groups of drawings wear up. That is the commander of the right side of the attack map who beats the drum and Ding Ning. From the report's i statement and pattern, it can be seen that the right team of the two parties participating in the battle is in a clear advantage, while the left side only has the ability to fight back, and has no ability to fight back. Therefore, the attack map shows the scene of the sergeant on the right team fighting, pursuing and winning a complete victory. The samurai drinking picture above is exactly the gorgeous screen of the drinking celebration after the victory, the luxurious decoration, and the leader raises a glass and drinks. If it wasn't for the big victory, how could he be so happy and leisurely? It should be pointed out that the two warriors in front of the drinking leader were not dancing, but the victorious sergeant took a prisoner of war. Why? Let's keep an eye out for the battle map, where all the troops on the right wear hats or helmets, or roll a hair roll on their heads. The head of the other sergeant is straight four or five hairs: the samurai in the middle of the samurai drinking picture wears a sword and hat, which is naturally a sergeant of the winning side, while the man behind him seems to have his hands tied and made a complaint of forgiveness, and the hairstyle on his head is the same as that of the defeated party, which is undoubtedly a prisoner of war. As for the other part of the drawing, whereby those in hats and long skirts were boiling water, I thought it was the slave of the noble chief who was boiling water to cook rice and serve the soldiers fighting on the front lines. Others, such as swimming fish, birds, and geese, are just adorned on this pattern as an auspicious object. The phenomenon of carving fish on copper streams is not only found in Changzhi in southeastern Jin, but also on bronze artifacts excavated in Changsha in the Chu state. In the copper plate from the Warring States Tomb in The West Fork of Hebei Lingshou, there are seven fish carved, its craftsmanship is exquisite and delicate, and its appearance is vivid, which is no different from a live fish! Thus. Carving fish in water vessels such as copper turns, plates, and jian was a popular technique in the Warring States period.
Intriguing is that in the tomb of Lucheng with copper, in addition to a large number of bronze ceremonial vessels, there are also a large number of weapons, eleven bronze ge pieces, seven spears, fourteen sickles, and two bronze swords, a total of thirty-four weapons. So many weapons and bronze seals engraved with battle maps are from a tomb, which is obviously not an accidental coincidence, but marks the identity of the owner of the tomb, and also means that there is a close connection between the life experience of the K people in the tomb and these burial vessels: Lucheng was a frequent haunt of Chidi in the Spring and Autumn Period, according to the K left biography. Loaded: .. Chi Di, surname Kui. To the north of Luzhou, to the east is Licheng, which includes the Lu clan, the Jia clan, the Liuwu clan, the land and the Lian. "Zuo Chuan Xuan Gong Fifteen Years i Ji Zai" "June 癸卯, Jin XunLin father defeated Chi Di Yu Qu Liang: XinHai, Extinguish Lu. In the sixteenth year of Xuan Gong: "In the spring, the Jin Shihui Commandery destroyed Chi Di and Jia Shi, as well as Dian Wu and Duo Chen, "During the Warring States period, Lucheng first belonged to Ya. After descending Zhao. In short, at the time of the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, this place was a place of contention between soldiers and families, and the battle map was closely related to this era of frequent wars and special geographical environment
The pattern of the Lucheng Copper Zao has a more realistic and realistic style than the pattern of the Changzhi Copper Zao, and the techniques used to depict the scene of the battle are by no means the same, with a bow and arrow, a spear charging, a middle arrow falling to the ground, and a headless corpse lying on its back, all of which set off the atmosphere of fierce fighting from different angles. Although the facial expression of the characters is still relatively dull, and the lines are still relatively clumsy, a living war scene has been presented to us. Boiling water to cook rice reveals the breadth of the war from another side. Drinking and celebrating added victory to the battle.
The pattern of the Lucheng Changzhi Copper Zao reflects the more complex life scenes such as wars, sacrifices, and banquets in the Warring States period, and is the beginning of a direct reflection of social real life in Chinese art, which shows that in addition to expressing the idea of worshiping nature, it also directly expresses human social activities.
Secondly, in terms of image processing, for individual images, it is first necessary to grasp the main characteristics of the overall appearance and appearance, add and use a very general and simple treatment, and boldly transport and then exaggerate the technique, adopt a certain degree of decoration, and be good at using large action postures and horizontal spatial relationships to express large scenes such as war and hunting. A simple compositional approach is cleverly employed in the representation of the opposition or struggle between two things.
Again, the ornamentation of the bronze has changed from tedious to rustic. The fierce food pattern that prevailed in the Western Zhou Dynasty had disappeared at this time, and the light ornaments such as cockroaches became increasingly popular, and plain copperware or bronze ware decorated with common animal images such as fish, birds, cattle, and sheep began to appear in large quantities.
Why is there such a change in the expression of arts and crafts at this time? Ideological changes are the inevitable product of economic and political changes in a certain period of time. If you want to understand the reasons for the change in the artistic expression method at this time, you can only look for it from the social background of this period.
The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was a period of rapid development of productive forces in the ancient history of the mainland, and the rapid development of the production economy led to rapid changes in social relations and changes in the superstructure. According to historical records, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou royal family was declining day by day, and the princes competed for supremacy one after another. In the Warring States stage, the princes were gradually replaced by their own qing masters. In short, the strict hierarchical system of the Zhou Dynasty has tended to disintegrate, and people have gradually been freed from the shackles of hierarchical etiquette. In the expression of arts and crafts, it is also natural to transform the animals that threaten, devour, suppress and trample on people's hearts into realistic trees, flowers, birds, fish, cattle, sheep, and depicting people's sacrifices, attacks, hunting and other life scenes. This change is undoubtedly a major progress in society, and it is also a major turning point in the expression of mainland art. However, since the regime was still in the hands of the new nobles such as the newly elected qingfu and the scholars, and the bronze workshops that required a large number of laborers to cooperate with each other were still controlled by the new nobles, this depiction of social life was of course centered on these nobles.
The principle of Marxist dialectical materialism holds that social consciousness is the conceptual reflection of people's processes and conditions of all social life, and in the final analysis, it is the conceptual reflection of the process of social and social phenomena and its conditions. The bronze ware pattern unearthed in Changzhi Lucheng is the conceptual reflection of the material life of the society and its conditions at that time. There are two meanings here, the second is that the content of the bronze pattern is an inevitable reflection of the process of social life in the fine arts. According to the Mozi, during the Warring States period: 'Siege the city to fight, kill people to win the city; Attack the wilderness to fight, kill people in the wilderness. "It shows that the war at that time was extremely cruel. From other historical and archaeological sources, it can be seen that in the Warring States period, not only the weapons used by soldiers were quite advanced, but also the main types of troops changed from the chariots of the past to cavalry and infantry, the former with great lethality and rapid speed, while the latter had great flexibility and mobility. The cavalry figure on the bronze mirror of Luoyang Jincun allows us to see the image of the bravery and mighty cavalry at that time, and the power of the infantry is confirmed on the lucheng copper motif. History books such as "Mozi" describe the scenes of social life at that time in words, and these bronze patterns are records of the fine art forms of social life at that time. Second, the emergence of sharp iron tools created indispensable conditions for copper wire engraving patterns. According to records, the iron smelting industry in the Warring States period has been quite developed, and Zhao Zhi Handan, Chu's Ying, and Han's Tangxi are all famous iron smelting centers; it can be seen from the Warring States iron tools that have been excavated that sharp iron tools have been abundant at that time: If there is no such premise, it is impossible to engrave patterns on hard bronzes.
The patterns of bronzes excavated from Changzhi Lucheng and the engraved patterns on bronzes from the same period embody and develop the rationalist spirit of the Chinese nation. What is the spirit of rationalism, the so-called rationalism, that is, to change the external mandatory norms into the internal desires of the initiative, to serve and obey God, to serve and obey people. In this regard, Xun Quan once profoundly discussed: "Fu Le, Le Ye." Human affection is inevitable. The old man cannot be unhappy. ...... Make it loud enough to be happy and not flowing, make its text enough to discern but not be spoken, make it straight, prosperous, incorruptible, and rhythmic, enough to touch people's good hearts, so that the evil and filthy atmosphere of the husband cannot be received for no reason. He also said, "Whoever hears, he who gives birth to the heart also." Emotions are in the middle, so the shape is in the sound. Sound is written, called sound. It is the sound of the world's rule, in order to enjoy its politics and peace. The voice of the chaotic world complains, in order to forgive its political obedience. The voice of the subjugation mourns, thinking of the plight of its people. The way of sound is related to politics. "Mr. Guo Moruo once explained: 'The so-called , le ' in the old Days of China' contains a wide range of contents. Music, poetry, and dance, which are originally a trinity, needless to say, drawing, carving, architecture are also included, and even honor guards, field hunting, and cuisine can be covered. ,,9 It can be seen that the whole range of art is discussed in the Le Li.
Whether it is the bronze pattern of Changzhi or Lucheng, in the spatial consciousness of the picture layout and architecture, it is not to let people get some mysterious and tense inspiration, repentance or passion, but to provide a clear and practical conceptual mood, which is the so-called "hopeful, feasible, swimworthy, and livable".
This spirit of reason is also expressed in the strictly symmetrical structure of the building. For example, the pavilion building on the Changzhi copper wind pattern presents a traditional axisymmetric shape, and the screen of the Lucheng copper mound is also symmetrical on both sides to show serious, square and orderly rationality. The composition method and technique of composing a complete content by several parts of different life and battle scenes in the Lucheng copper-zag pattern not only reflects the rational practice spirit of the pre-Qin Dynasty, but also makes it further develop. If you relate to the portrait stones and portrait bricks in the tombs of the Han Dynasty that describe the life of the tomb owner in pieces, its origin lies in this.