A Study On The Evolution Of Jin Yu 's Characters In The Western Zhou Dynasty And The Chronology Of Bronze

This paper unfolds the study on the font and chirography of bronze inscription from the Western Zhou dynasty from 3 levels. First, study the evolvement rule of the font and chirography of bronze inscription from the Western Zhou dynasty by referring to the basic principle of Archaeological Typology "classification first and division of history later" and the successful experience in classification of oracle bone inscriptions found in Yin Dynasty ruins, attempt to make a breakthrough in theory, and propose "the font typology of bronze inscription". Second, according to the features of font and chirography of bronze inscription from the Western Zhou dynasty, character form and chirography features of standard inscriptions, we chose a batch of individual characters which have high use frequency in some historical period and obvious characteristics of times, and then make classification of type and division of history from font structure, handwriting and strokes form; in font, we changed the general and fuzzy description of the past, and described the change of inscriptions with time from the perspectives of arrangement, outline of single character, components and strokes. Third, make comprehensive evaluation on a batch of disputable bronze wares according to the evolvement rule of the font and chirography of bronze inscription from the Western Zhou dynasty and contents of shape, decoration and inscription, hoping to contribute to the history division system of copper wares from the Western Zhou Dynasty. Our research focus and conclusion is shown as follow:Firstly. Study the theoretical basis, research object, scope and procedure of evolvement of the font and chirography of bronze inscription from the Western Zhou dynasty. In methodology, we studied the basic principle of archaeological typology, explored the two systems of bronze inscription, font and chirography, and constructed a set of reproducible and applicable theoretical framework, namely "the font typology of bronze inscription". In Western Zhou dynasty, long inscriptions emerged in large numbers covering a large range of bronze wares and some single characters were used in high frequency. The single characters used for over 30 times can be found in 75% of inscriptions from various periods of Western Zhou dynasty. High coverage rate is very critical to serve as the basis for theory. Properties of official characters also determine the basic characteristics of shape evolvement of inscriptions from the Western Zhou dynasty.Secondly. Typological study of font of inscriptions from the Western Zhou dynasty. In over 3700 samples, we chose 27 single characters for classification, which were evenly distributed through the Western Zhou dynasty with frequency of occurrence over 30 times, a variety of font changes and certain characteristics of times, drew the evolvement track of inscriptions with representative characters. Compared with the shape and pattern decorations within a comparatively small space and time range, the changes of character shapes on the same ware are somewhat independent and the development rhythm between characters is not in balance. But, as a whole, the mainstream is the synchronism of evolvement factors on bronze wares and the difference is the branch.Thirdly. Staging of inscription font. According to the fonts of single characters, we can divide the development process of font into 6 sections and 4 stages. The turning point of font change lies between section 2 and 3, section 3 and 4, section 5 and 6, which is the basis for 4 divided stages. The 4 stages can be described by the classical component characteristic of character "宝" as follow:top-up "宀" flat top "宀". round corner "宀" and rolling brim stage"宀". The first 2 stages are the decreasing phases of style of Yin dynasty, in which people of Zhou dynasty gradually threw away the style of bronze wares from Yin dynasty—shape and structure, pattern decoration, ware inscription and combination, and gradually formed their own style. The latter 2 stages are the establishment of Zhou style, in which bronze wares of Zhou dynasty were thoroughly remolded, completely established their own style and made further development.Fourthly. Evolvement and development of inscription font from Western Zhou dynasty. The chirography of inscription of Western Zhou dynasty can be divided into 3 types by the font of single character, straightness and bending of strokes, handwriting post, component structure, thickness of strokes and form of strokes. The 3 types roughly underwent 4 stages:"Yin style successive stage", "Zhou style rising stage", "Zhou style consolidating stage", and "Zhou style establishing stage". Compared with the previous division "BoZhe" and "Yuzhu", the division of 4 stages can provide more careful understandings about the evolvement of inscription style. It can be found from classification that the development rhythm of chirography of inscriptions on bronze wares is comparatively slower than the development of font, not to mention the evolvement rate. We can say that font development drives the advance of chirography.Fifthly. History division analysis of bronze wares according to font chirography, ware shape and pattern decoration. There are many disputes in the history and the times cover 2 royal generations. Scholars hold their own attitudes but are lack of evaluation by ware shape and image of pattern decoration. With the style of font chirography as cut-in point, we have reviewed the previous achievements of history division basic on ware shape, style decoration, inscription content and archaeological information. Our conclusion is roughly similar or close to the conclusions drawn in the system of traditional bronze wares. This indicates that "font typology of bronze inscription" and primary practice in history division of bronze wares is reliable and beneficial. The different conclusions can also promote the self-improvement and development of history division system of bronze wares.