The Collation And Study On The Archaistic Ritual Bronze Vessels Of Hunan

In Hunan, various and numerous bronze wares, which are of historical and artistic value, are collected and excavated. Most of the archaistic bronze wares are constituted by the sacrificial vessels that are mainly used for Confucian and ancestral temples. The archaistic bronze wares are divided into various categories, including furnace, wine goblet, drinking vessel, bottle, round-mouthed food vessel, wine vessel with three legs and a loop handle, ancient stemmed cup or bowl, square grain receptacle, cymbal, and bell. Most of them tend to appear in pairs or groups, and numbers of inscriptive bronze wares have clearly described their own functions, production time and user identities. This has not only reflected the characteristics of the then society, but also provided material data for the research on the etiquette system construction, cultural movements and prevailing lifestyles in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Through sorting out the forms, ornaments and inscriptions of this batch of bronze wares, this paper analyzes laws and institutions in relevant literature, investigates into the copies of archaistic sacrificial wares and their purposes, and probes into the characteristics of archaistic bronze wares in different ages as well as their historical and artistic values.