The appearance of antique bronzes is for the purpose of restoring ancient ways and promoting traditional ethics, or for the respect and hobby of ancient culture. The history of imitating pre-Qin bronzes can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, when epigraphy rose, and public and private people took pleasure in collecting Shang and Zhou bronzes. The imperial court once copied a large number of Shang and Zhou bronze ritual vessels from the imperial palace, thinking that they were used as suburban temples. In Song Dynasty, Wang Fu was ordered by Song Huizong to compile the Famous Map of Xuanhe Bo Gu in Xuanhe Period (119-1125), which recorded the essence of bronzes collected by the royal family in Song Dynasty from Shang Dynasty to Tang Dynasty. This book is illustrated and divided into 18 categories, and each category has a general statement. There are 839 containers, which have a great influence on the development of bronze plastic arts in later generations. Especially in Zheng He's period, he loved antiques and often ordered workers to copy new antiques, so he made many (see Zhai Nian Shi). The Qing Dynasty, established as a Manchu aristocrat, experienced a process of absorbing China culture from life style, language, social system and values from the central plains to the middle and late Qing Dynasty. After the establishment of the Qing dynasty, facing the highly developed feudal culture of the Han nationality, the Qing court gradually realized that the conquest of force could only play a temporary role, and the obedience of the people could benefit for a long time. Marked by Emperor Kangxi's exclusive respect for Neo-Confucianism, the Qing court established the basic national policy of "respecting Confucianism and valuing Taoism". In order to get rid of the shadow of the crisis of the legitimacy of the throne, Yong Zhengdi also found the weapon of "the feeling between heaven and man" from China's traditional ideological arsenal, trying to combine political power with theocracy by using Buddhism and Taoism and adopting a parallel policy towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. During the Qianlong period, the territory was unified, and the economy was developed. The Qing Dynasty was in its heyday. Emperor Qianlong strongly advocated literary records, saying that "culture and education are the first priority of the emperor". During the Qianlong period, the ancient artifacts 1436 pieces collected by the imperial court were copied from the Map of Xuanhe Bo Gu and compiled into 40 volumes of Xiqing Ancient Mirror. Two volumes of Xiqing Continued Mirror were revived, and then sixteen volumes of Ningshou Ancient Mirror were published. These three books have greatly promoted the collection of bronzes by the court and dignitaries.
Bronzes in Qing dynasty are completely different from those in Shang and Zhou dynasties in both use and nature. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, bronzes were symbols of aristocratic families. In order to carry forward the virtues of their ancestors, the nobles carved their records, cast bronzes and recorded them in inscriptions. The use of ritual vessels is a symbol of aristocratic rank. By the Qing Dynasty, bronzes had lost these meanings. They were just utensils in life, or works of art that people appreciated. Bronzes in Qing Dynasty are mainly divided into two parts. Some of them are practical utensils, such as incense burners, ding, bottles, cans, turtles, cranes, sheep, deer, etc., which are mainly used for life, sacrifices and various ceremonies. This part of bronzes is similar to the original in shape and has the style of Shang and Zhou bronzes. In terms of decoration, the decorative patterns of Shang and Zhou bronzes are not strictly imitated, but dragon patterns, cirrus patterns, wave patterns, flower patterns, deformed animal face patterns, deformed real-life patterns, palindromes and other decorative patterns are adopted. The animal faces on some utensils are not animal faces, but like bats. Coffin, reed, Jue, palm, tripod and pot in bronze ware are all ritual vessels.
In the Qing Dynasty, bronzes and stoves were set up in the court one after another, and a large number of bronzes were made for the display of the palace, Buddhist temples and altars in the suburbs of ancestral temples. Especially in the Qianlong dynasty, the antique objects in the palace were the most prosperous, which was of course related to the ancient character and feelings of Emperor Boya of Qianlong. The ancient lost wax method was used to cast bronzes in the Qing Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, this casting technology had reached the level of perfection, and it could produce all kinds of complex shapes, which were standardized, dignified and exquisite. There are also various decoration methods, such as carving, hollowing out, burning ancient, gold and silver plating, embedding gold and silver thread, sprinkling gold and so on. , strive to develop in inheritance. As far as the skin color of utensils is concerned, there are many changes, such as azurite spot, azurite spot, cinnabar spot, pig liver color, copper green, tea final color, emerald green, crab shell green, eel yellow and so on. These bright colors are soft and moist, with precious color connotation and pearlescent appearance. From this, we can appreciate the exquisiteness and elegance of the bronze wares in the Qing Dynasty, as well as the rich charm of the ancient style.
The characteristics of antique bronzes in the Qing Dynasty are as follows: 1. Inscriptions are often engraved, indicating imitations, and court imitations are often engraved with the current year, such as the inscription "The Year of the Qing Dynasty". Second, the imitation is different from the original in shape and charm. The appearance has some characteristics of Shang and Zhou bronzes, but some parts are often transformed in many ways, such as "antique flower beds in Qing Dynasty". The following is a brief introduction of some representative antique artifacts selected from the collection of the Forbidden City.
Qing imitation quadruped, 9.5 cm high and 0.8 cm wide/kloc-0. Body square, belly deep. There is a beast head on the ventral side, with a small mouth, a flat neck and four feet under it. The neck is decorated with three animal heads and deformed Kuiwen, and the abdomen is decorated with banana leaf patterns. Coffins in Shang Dynasty were generally three-pointed or four-pointed feet (also known as column-foot coffins), with their feet curled outward and two umbrella-shaped columns on their mouths. However, this coffin is small, with four legs similar to Ming and Qing furniture, but not seen in Shang bronzes, and its shape is far from that of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Kuiwen became a pattern like a bird.
Qing imitation gilded Feng Huangwen reed, height 1 1.6 cm, width 15.2 cm. Round body, deep belly. Double animal ears, hovering feet, covered with a round handle. The cover, neck and feet are decorated with Feng Niaowen. Gold plated. There are inscriptions on the lid and inner bottom of the container The shape and ornamentation of this reed are similar to those of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but Feng Niaowen has been deformed, with a bloated bird body, short tail and rough ornamentation, losing the style of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. I haven't seen the premium of Shang and Zhou Dynasties.
The antique flower bed in Qing Dynasty is 27.9 cm high and 15.7 cm wide. The body is round and trumpet-shaped. I lost my mouth and wound my feet. With thunder pattern as the ground pattern, the neck is decorated with banana leaf pattern, the abdomen is decorated with animal face pattern, the abdomen has four convex ribs, and the foot is decorated with deformed animal face pattern and four convex ribs. Feet are bottomless and connected from top to bottom. This wine bottle has no bottom and is not practical. It can only be used for viewing, and the wine bottles of Shang and Zhou Dynasties are wine bottles. Although the shape is similar to that of Shang and Zhou dynasties, the decorative patterns are quite different, and the thunder patterns are loose and dull, especially the animal face patterns, which have been seriously deformed.
Four-legged Fang Ding imitating Leiwen Qingganlong is 14.8cm high and 13.3cm wide. Cuboid, with square mouth, ears on the mouth, flat bottom and four columns. The abdomen is decorated with thunder pattern, and the middle of thunder pattern is decorated with straight pattern. There is a six-character regular script of "Qianlong Year System in Qing Dynasty" on the outsole. In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Fang Ding's neck was straight and his mouth was folded outward, and the thunder pattern was compact and smooth. This tripod has sharp edges and corners, rigid shape, adduction under the mouth, and traces of smoke in the container, which evolved from an early tripod to an incense burner.
Green dried Longyan threaded pot, 18.8 cm high and 9.8 cm wide. The body is round, the abdomen is bulging, the shoulders have four rings, and the feet are round. The shoulders and abdomen are decorated with banana leaf patterns, and the abdomen is decorated with two wavy patterns. The outsole of the foot has the words "year-round system" The pot is made of copper essence, which is well cast and should be made by the Qing palace.