When it comes to the bronze sword of the Spring and Autumn And Warring States period, everyone must think of the "Yue King Gou Jian Sword". This "self-use" sword of the Yue King is a treasure in bronze weapons, known as the "first sword in the world", which is of great value for studying the history of Yue and understanding the ancient Chinese bronze casting process and writing.
Unfortunately, it did not come to the scene of the "Why China" exhibition of the Palace Museum, and the two bronze swords displayed in the "Jijin" section were collected by the Palace Museum, namely the "Shaoyi Sword" and the "Warring States Plain Sword" of the Jin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period; the "Shaoyi Sword" was 54 cm long, with a round stem without hoops and a round head. The lattice decoration is wrongly gold inlaid turquoise animal face pattern, the sword jewelry is wrong gold cloud pattern, and there are 20 words of wrong gold inscription on the sword ridge. The plain sword is 71 cm long, and there is no inscription on the whole body, and there is no grid between the sword body and the sword stem. They all give people a majestic and beautiful overall look, showing that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chinese ancestors had mastered the bronze casting technology of pure fire.
Today, we will focus on the "Shaoyi Sword". The great poet Li Bai wrote a poem "Chivalrous Travel", the whole poem is as follows: "Jin Wu cast copper soldiers, and the flames were cold and frosted." Ji Zi hung his sword, and the prince looked north. Five hegemons out of seven males, Zhan Lu to the fish intestine, Tai A who held upside down, the giant Que scramble to collapse. The most is the anger of the dragon yuan, and the red lightning slashes the snake busy. The cadre will be safe now, and the young man will be magnificent. ”
In this poem, Li Bai mentions 8 famous swords, namely: Zhan Lu, Fish Intestine, Tai'a, Ju Que, Long Yuan, Chi Xiao, Gan General, and Shao Yu. I don't know whether Li Bai is a great prophet or a coincidence of history, the fate of the first 7 famous swords is unfortunately li Bai's sentence "Now an anzai", and they do not know the end, only "Shao Yu is unique and magnificent".
"Shaoyi Sword", excavated in 1923 in Liyu Village, Hunyuan, Shanxi, is 5 cm wide and weighs 0.88 kg. The sword forward is broken, oblique from the wide, the front is narrow, the thick grid is inverted and concave, the round stem has no hoops, and the round head. The sword ridge is concave in shape, with false gold inscriptions on both sides, and there are two crosses of the seal book: Auspicious Day Nongwu, Zha (作) for yuan use, Xuan Gong Lu (aluminum), Yuan Yu Zhi , and stomach (said) Shao Yu. According to this inscription, people called this sword the "Sword of the Lesser Sword".
The inscription "Xuan Hao Li Lu" refers to a new composite sword casting process in the Spring and Autumn Period, that is, the alloy ratio of each part of the sword body is different, the blade tin content is high, the hard and sharp, the ridge is high in copper content, and the toughness is enhanced, so as to achieve the effect of rigidity and flexibility.
With the continuous deepening of archaeological work, there are about 300 bronze swords with inscriptions in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period excavated today, most of which belong to the swords of princes and nobles, such as the Sword of Wu Wang, the Sword of Yue Wang, the Sword of Chu Wang, the Sword of Yan Wang, etc. Only one of the ancient famous swords is the "ShaoYi Sword", which is particularly valuable.
Judging from the information seen, a total of 4 bronze swords called "Shaoyi Sword" were found around the world. There is one in the Collection of the Guimet Museum in France and one in the Collection of the Nelson Atkinson Museum of Art in the United States. In 1991, another sword was found in Yuanping, Shanxi, its sharp remnants, the same as this one, the inscription is missing the words "auspicious day" and "鎛庐", the others are exactly the same, the sword and inscription are rustless and soilless, like a new work.
Carefully analyzing the development process of the bronze sword, the sword body has been constantly lengthening. When it first arose, the length of the sword was only 20 or 30 centimeters; by the time of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the length generally reached about 50 to 60 centimeters; in the late Warring States period, some swords exceeded 70 centimeters, and the plain sword was an important representative of this period.
If you like, you can go to the Palace Museum to watch on the spot, you can also pay attention to me, I will share with you the various national treasures I see in the museum, accompany you to visit the museum at home, appreciate the national treasures, and learn traditional Chinese culture.