On The Origin And Development Of Bronze Vessels In Xia, Shang And Zhou Dynasty

Focusing on study of bronze vessels in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, this paper discusses in detail the complete process of origin, birth and development of Bronze Vessel Art. Origin of Bronze Vessel Art refers to prehistoric art, technology and etiquette, which had contributed, directly or indirectly, to the formation of bronze vessels in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasty. Birth of the Bronze Art means the Copper Art which preceded the Bronze Art and included specifically non-container tools, weapons and decorations made of copper or various copper alloys. Development of Bronze Art consists of three parts: development and evolvement of shape and ornamentation of bronze vesseles, that of casting techniques and evolution of social regulations and conceptions in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasty. As the most visible and vivid process, development and evolvement of shape and ornamentation of bronze vesseles reflects people’s endless pursuit for things both practical and beautiful, while it also subjects to dual constraints by special casting technology and the etiquette and concepts of that time, and therefore casting technique related development and evolution and transmutation of system and concept reflected by bronze ware shall be studied so as to carry out more comprehensive in-depth analysis of the cause for evolution of bronze shape and ornamentation.The full text is composed by the introduction, five chapters and the conclusion. The introduction section introduces the point of view, significance and methods of the research, and discuss the definition of research object, the naming and classification issues of three dynasties and the Chinese Bronze Age, and also elaborate in detail the academic history of the bronze research to pave the way for the follow-up studies. ChapterⅠdiscusses the origin of bronze art: first takes Xia, Shang, Zhou art’s heritage and development of prehistoric art as evidence, and then explains prehistoric origins of Ancient Chinese Bronzes art from three aspects: shape and ornamentation, mining, smelting,and casting technology and etiquette. ChapterⅡis the discussion of the birth of the Bronze Art: first discusses people’s initial recognition of natural copper and copper ore, and then discusses the development of Copper Art and summarize the artistic characteristics separately, and brings reflection upon the birth of the Chinese bronze and metallurgy. ChapterⅢdiscusses the evolution of shapes and ornamentation of bronze: divide development of shapes and decorative patterns of the Xia, Shang and Zhou bronze art into four stages, specifically describe in each stage the shape and decoration development of each category and summarize their artistic characteristics. Chapter IV is the research on evolution of bronze casting technology: first introduces several technical details of the casting technique, and then induces that the Xia, Shang and Zhou bronze casting technology has experienced three stages of development, maturation and transformation, and finally combine the stage discussion of shape and decoration, expound the relationship between the bronze casting technology and art forms. Chapter V analyses the evolution of Xia, Shang and Zhou social institutions and concepts, to clarify impacts of different social institutions and concepts on the art of bronze. The conclusion summarizes the main points of above-mentioned five chapters, points out that art of the Xia and Shang bronze originated in deep sediments in prehistoric times, result from the the early copper art, the whole development of bronze art is not only confined to practical and aesthetic functions, influence of the casting technology and the concept of social institutions seems to be more critical, because bronze casting technology is the necessary guarantee for bronze forming, and the new demands of social institutions and concept is the internal drive for its evolution.