The Study Of Cicada Pattern On Bronzes Of Shang And Zhou Dynasties

The study of bronze ware is always the hot issue in the field of archaeology and art history.As the common pattern,though the cicada pattern usually is not play the role of main decoration but auxiliary pattern,the cicada pattern is an extremely important pattern in bronze of Shang and Zhou Dynasties because of the distinctive feature,widely application in different bronze and widely spread in different region during long period.This paper is focus on the research of cicada pattern in bronze of Shang and Zhou Dynasties.336 bonzes with cicada pattern was collected from writings and excavation at home and abroad.Firstly,based on the method of archaeological typology,the cicada pattern on the bronzes was classified to three categories,i.e.no-foot pattern,with feet pattern and anamorphic cicada pattern.Moreover,detail types also were classified under the categories according to the standard of with or without segment,numbers of feet,decoration in the end of body and the typical feature of anamorphic cicada pattern.Secondly,the development and evolution of cicada pattern was divided in three stages,i.e.forming,thriving and degenerating stages,which was based on the characteristics of the times and trends of combination and form.Meanwhile,the features in regional distribution of cicada pattern was studied,and the connection between the regional distribution and culture distribution was summarized.It's found that the cicada pattern in bronze was originated in the central area of Shang dynasty culture,and inherited by Zhou dynasty culture,then spreaded to surrounding areas with the cultural imperialism of Zhou dynasty.Finally,based on the method of statistics,the paper summarized the features of layout and combinations with different patterns of cicada pattern,as well as the preliminary study on cultural meaning carried by cicada pattern.