After a long course in the primitive commune era, human beings entered the slave society. In China, as a symbol of slave society civilization, it is bronze craft. Historians call the era of slavery the "Bronze Age".
The developed casting technology of bronzes fully reflects the highly developed productivity level during the period of slavery society in China, and its colorful shapes and patterns reflect the outstanding artistic creation of working people in China.
1. What is bronze ware?
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin-lead, because copper (pure copper) has a high melting point (1083C) and a low hardness. Adding tin can reduce the melting point (700-900℃) and increase the hardness, so it has wide applicability in application. Before people used iron, bronze was widely used to cast various utensils.
2. Classification of bronzes
The scope of bronzes is very extensive, which can be roughly divided into four categories from the function:
(1) Ritual vessels: During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, some daily-used bronzes were endowed with special significance because they were furnishings for sacrifices and ceremonies, and became bronze ritual vessels. Such as Ding, Wei and Zun.
(2) Musical instruments: In the Spring and Autumn Period, musical instruments were even more indispensable in sacrifices and ceremonies. The so-called "Zhong Ming" reflected the situation at that time, such as Rao, Zhong, Zhong Gu and so on.
(3) Weapons: The most unearthed weapons were in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There are Ge, Yue, spear, sword and arrow.
(4) Tools, chariots and horses: such as plows, hoes, sickles, shovels and axes.
In addition, the main categories of bronze utensils are: food utensils, wine utensils, water utensils and household miscellaneous utensils. Among them, food containers and wine containers are mainly used.
3. The main features of bronze craft in modeling and ornamentation:
From the perspective of artistic appreciation, the outstanding achievements of ancient bronze crafts in China are rich and varied shapes and patterns, as well as different artistic styles in different historical periods.
Bronze crafts in China are represented by bronzes in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, such as the so-called bronze ritual vessels-Ding. Ding is an ancient cooker, and its modeling features are composed of three parts: abdomen, feet and ears. The stomach can hold things enough to make a fire, and the ears can carry things through the fence. Ding is one of the most important bronze ritual vessels. Its practical significance is to hold or cook food, but its value is reflected in the maintenance of etiquette. Generally used for sacrificial ceremonies and banquets of the slave owners' class, it has the function of distinguishing between the superior and the inferior and is a symbol of the slave owners' ruling power. According to the literature, "Emperor Jiuding, seven governors, five doctors, three yuan scholars or one ding". (There is also an idiom "Keep your word, win the Central Plains, and have three pillars")
For example, Simuwu Fang Ding is thick and gorgeous, full of mystery and deterrence. Simuwu Fang Ding is the largest and heaviest tripod ever unearthed, and it has a legendary experience. 1March, 939, this tripod was unearthed in the farmland of Wu Yuyao's family in Houjiazhuang Military Officer Village, Anyang, Henan. Because the tripod is too heavy and big to move, people want to saw it off and carry it out, but they saw only one foot and it kept sawing, so they buried it quietly. Later, the news leaked out, and the Japanese search failed, so they paid 700 thousand yuan for counterfeit money, and the locals cleverly sent a tripod, which was left behind.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War,1June, 946, Dading was excavated again, but it had lost an ear (later repaired) and was first deposited in Anyang county government. At the end of the same year 10, Chiang Kai-shek, then chairman of the National Government, celebrated his 60th birthday. The local garrison took Dading as a birthday present, transported it to Nanjing by special car and kept it in the preparatory office of the Central Museum. Later, the Kuomintang government wanted to transport the tripod to Taiwan Province Province, but it was too difficult and gave up the idea. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), this tripod was kept in Nanjing Museum and handed over to China History Museum on 1959. Now it has become the treasure of the town hall.
After the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, the mysterious color of bronzes gradually faded, the style tended to be simple, and the beauty of simplicity and elegance was pursued. Such as "Meng Ding", the shape is majestic and dignified, and the decoration is simple.
After the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, bronzes gradually became the daily necessities of the ruling class. The shape of bronzes tends to be light and smart, the decorative techniques are realistic, and the decorative patterns are easy to understand. For example, the lotus crane square pot is a masterpiece in this respect. In addition, the bells of Zeng Houyi are the most important unearthed cultural relics, with 56 bells, which are divided into upper, middle and lower layers. After testing, each chime can not only pronounce, but also emit two different sounds, and can play all kinds of modern music with pure and beautiful sound quality. This is the only super-large fixed-tone ancient musical instrument in the world at present, and it is also the oldest musical instrument preserved in the world, with 12 semitones. (Video: Zeng Houyi chimes)
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, because the ironware and lacquerware were more convenient than the bronzes, they gradually replaced the bronzes, and the bronzes developed in the direction of light, exquisite and practical living utensils and ornamental utensils, which often attracted people's attention with the high unity of practicality and aesthetics. (Video: Bronze Craft)
This is a paper about identifying the authenticity of bronze wares.
Forging bronzes is mainly for profit, while copying bronzes is out of respect and love for ancient culture, or for the purpose of restoring ancient ways and promoting traditional ethics. Therefore, the purpose and nature of antiques and fakes are different, and they also show some different characteristics in utensils, so it is necessary to distinguish them. Since the Tang Dynasty, the situation of counterfeiting in various periods can be roughly summarized into four sentences: imitation in Tang and Song Dynasties, change in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, change in Qing Dynasty and fraud in the Republic of China. The basic situation is summarized as follows.
Imitation of ancient bronzes
The history of imitating pre-Qin bronzes can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, when epigraphy rose, and both public and private took pleasure in collecting Shang and Zhou bronzes. The Song court once copied a large number of bronze ritual vessels of Shang and Zhou Dynasties from the imperial palace, thinking that they were used as suburban temples. Especially in Zheng He's period, Hui Zong loved antiques, and he often ordered good workers to copy newly acquired antiques, so he made a lot of them (see Zhai Jiannian's History of Liu Hua). However, after the Southern Song Dynasty, bronzes were often destroyed and cast, and few imitations of ancient artifacts in the Song Dynasty have been passed down so far. However, the wind of archaizing in the Song Dynasty continued until the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Yuan Dynasty, temples were built in every prefecture and county for spring and autumn sacrifices. To this end, Yuan Chengzong set up a wax bureau (Sacrificial Records of Yuan Dynasty) to imitate ancient sacrificial vessels. There were a lot of imitations in the Ming Dynasty, and many people passed them down. During the reign of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zhanji, Xuanzong, came up with the idea of restoring ancient ways because he saw that the rockers displayed in the ancestral temples and palaces in the suburbs were not ancient. So Xuande for three years, he ordered the Ministry of Industry to imitate the Shang and Zhou bronzes recorded in the archaeological maps of the Song Dynasty, Bo Gu maps and other books, and cast antique bronzes. In addition, he ordered people who imitated the elegant styles of the four famous imperial kilns to cast bronzes.
. At that time, more than 3300 pieces of the above two antique bronzes were cast. These antique bronzes were not only preserved by the imperial court, but also distributed to the princes' families, so they spread all over the country (Xuande Yi Qi Atlas). During the Chongzhen period at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Changban (No."Master of Fine Arts"), the king of Lu, also copied a large number of ancient bronzes.
Antique bronzes have the following characteristics:
First, inscriptions are often cast to show imitations, and court imitations are often cast in the same year. For example, the Shang and Zhou bronzes copied by Xuande's Ministry of Industry for three years are often cast with the word "Xuande". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imitation made by Lu Wang had the words "Made in Lu" and the number of objects. In the Qianlong period of the Palace Museum in Beijing, the bronze wares of the imitation Shang and Zhou Dynasties also bear the inscription "Qianlong period in the Qing Dynasty". The imitations of local officials in past dynasties not only indicate the year and model, but also indicate the official name.
Second, the imitation is different from the original in shape and charm. This is because since imitation is not like forgery, there is no need to pursue realism, and often it only seeks the shape, does not strictly follow the ancient system, and even changes, reflecting the various styles of the times. Antiques in the Song Dynasty are mostly based on the original artifacts of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, so their shapes are similar. However, compared with the original vessels, the vessels are slightly clumsy and generally larger, especially the vessels such as Ding, Jue and Yun. In addition, the decorative patterns of antique vessels and Shang and Zhou vessels are carefully compared, and it is found that they are not accurate enough, and their images have many changes. For example, the Song Dynasty imitation of Shangshu in the Forbidden City in Beijing is quite similar in shape, but the Kuiwen image and ground pattern decorated on its neck and circle feet are distorted and rough than those in the Shang Dynasty. The antique bronzes in the Yuan Dynasty are often transformed by themselves, and are not limited to the ancient shapes. For example, the bronze hairpin of the Yuan Dynasty was collected in 198 1 Changde Cili, Hunan. The shapes of double-ring ears and wave bands are random changes, with straight walls under the mouth, which are shaped after the early spring and autumn period, but the decorative patterns are mostly decorated with heavy ring patterns in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and the early spring and autumn period, which is also inconsistent with the real objects. The imitations of the Ming Dynasty were cast according to the books written in the Song Dynasty, and the picture books written in the Song Dynasty were not rigorous, so the imitations of the Ming Dynasty were even more out of shape. Although some of them are similar in appearance to the real vessels of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the ornamentation is very deformed. This situation can be seen from the above-mentioned business slips copied by Xuande for three years. Another example is: The tripod of "Duke of Zhou and King of Wen" cast by the Ministry of Industry in the third year of Xuande in Ming Dynasty, which was quoted from the Atlas of Xuande Yi wares. Although there are also general images of early bronzes, neither the flat feet and blade shapes, nor the ornamentation and inscriptions are from the early Zhou Dynasty, especially the ornamentation is more casual. The Yong Bao Ding recorded in Haozhai is used to erect ears and feet, but the shape, ornamentation and inscription font of its neck and abdomen are different from those of ancient vessels in the pre-Qin period. Mr Rong Geng pointed out: "This is an object of Amin dynasty. 1987 12 During the restoration of the Jade Emperor Pavilion in Ganyangshan, Shiping, Yunnan, an antique bronze tripod was found in the stone wall. It may be an imitation casting of the Ming Dynasty. Although it is generally modeled after the Shang and Zhou Ding, the hoof and foot shapes are far from each other, and the deformation of the gluttonous lines under the neck is very obvious. The triangular pattern of hanging leaves on the belly of the tripod is quite old. The inscription font was taken from the "past dynasties" of the Song Dynasty and was originally designated as the bronze tripod of the Western Zhou Dynasty by the discoverer. Because the judgment was obviously wrong, it was quickly corrected.
Before the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, many antique bronzes from the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty were preserved in the Qing Dynasty. Some bronzes were recorded in books such as Four Books of the Western Qing Dynasty compiled during the Qianlong period.
Even from the inaccurate modeling and ornamentation, it can be seen that it is an imitation of this stage, such as the so-called Zhou Panlong Zun (actually a pot shape) and Zhou Kuifeng Ding. The latter is the wrong gold and silver ware, originally made in the early Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but decorated with wrong gold and silver patterns. Obviously, this is an old and flexible technology. Mr. Rong Geng's suggestion that "nineteen pieces of gold, silver, wrong Shang and Zhou wares are all fakes" is obviously correct, but most of these wares belong to antiques and should be regarded as works of art.
The Qing court continued to cast antique bronzes, which were similar in style to Ming bronzes, that is, similar in appearance to Shang and Zhou bronzes, but some parts were often transformed in many ways. For example, the above-mentioned antique Fang Ding in Qing Dynasty, its gluttonous pattern is butterfly-shaped, Kuiwen's mouth and the shape under his mouth and neck are virtual images, but the shading remains unchanged, and the flat foot shape and its upper ornamentation do not conform to the ancient system, which typically reflects the style and level of antique bronzes in this period.
There are several common and special types of antique bronzes in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as the statue of a hundred rings and the statue of a halberd. In addition, the antiques of the Ming Dynasty can be seen through the ears, and the square mouth can be seen in the Qing Dynasty.
In short, the most important commonality of antique bronzes in past dynasties is that most of them adopt the shape of Shang and Zhou bronzes, but in some parts (such as some structures and ornamentation, especially ornamentation) they are often deformed at will. Therefore, even if there is no inscription marked as imitation, as long as we have a certain understanding of the shape, decoration and inscription characteristics of Shang and Zhou bronzes, it is not difficult to see the difference between imitation and Shang and Zhou bronzes. So generally speaking, imitators are easy to identify.
Forgery and Identification of Bronzes
1. Overview of Bronze Forgery History.
Counterfeits of bronzes existed before the Song Dynasty, but the appearance of a large number of counterfeits began in the Song Dynasty with the rise of epigraphy. Although it promoted the study of ancient bronzes and bronze inscriptions, the prosperity of public and private collections also made the sale of bronzes a means for antique dealers to make profits, and blacksmiths came into being. Scholars who study bronzes today believe that the court in Song Dynasty not only copied and cast a large number of ancient bronzes, but also naturally trained a group of experts who made fakes.
In the Song Dynasty, there was a debate about the ancient Ding Yi wares in Hu's Cave Collection, in which the pseudo color and the fake rust methods of fake ancient bronzes were mentioned. It can be seen that the forgery of bronzes has developed into a special technology in the Song Dynasty. There were also fake bronzes in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Cao Zhao has a section on "pseudo-bronzes" in Volume VI of On Ge Gu, an Amin, which focuses on the methods and identification points of pseudo-rust color of pseudo-bronzes. Obviously, at that time, there was considerable experience in making fake bronzes and distinguishing authenticity. In addition, Gao Lian, an Amin scholar, recorded in "On New Casting Fakes" (Zun Sheng Ba Gui 14: 28) that Jiang Niangzi in Hangzhou and Wang Ji in Pingjiang (now Suzhou) were famous casting artists at that time in the Yuan Dynasty. They were "archaic in method and impressive in style". Some products have entered the market as ancient bronzes. More exquisite pseudographs from the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty even filled the imperial palace in the Qing Dynasty, so the monograph compiled by Gan Long recorded four imperial palaces, namely, Xiqing Ancient Mirror, Ningshou Ancient Mirror, Xiqing Continued Mirror Series A and Series B (formerly known as Xiqing Four Mirrors). Inscription 1 176, of which Mr. Rong Geng thinks that nearly 42% are fakes and suspicious. Although some of them are not properly estimated because they have not seen them with their own eyes, this estimation is not excessive.
Before the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, the forging technology in Yuan, Ming and early Qing Dynasty was low, and the shape and decoration of vessels were mostly modeled after the images in books written by Song people's bronze wares, and the inscriptions were mostly fabricated, so the forgeries were easier to identify. During the Qianlong period, epigraphy was revived. At this time, the situation was just like that described by Mr. Xu Zhongshu: "The general concept of bronze ware was popularized by local scholars. They want to use these inscriptions to explain words and prove classics and classics. When they buy an antique, they should always pay attention to whether it has words. Of course, the middle price is far from it. " Bronzes with inscriptions are much more valuable than bronzes without inscriptions, which further stimulates the interest of some antique dealers and counterfeiters, but they are more interested in carving fake inscriptions on objects. Generally, they are copied and copied according to the inscriptions on the objects, and sometimes they are transformed and pieced together. At the same time, the integral casting of counterfeit products has gradually formed centers in wei county, Shandong Province and Xi 'an, Shaanxi Province.
After the Republic of China, a large number of ancient bronzes were unearthed, providing a large number of authentic samples. Coupled with the continuous accumulation of counterfeiting technology in past dynasties, it has reached the point of perfection at this time, especially the development of overseas markets for bronzes, so the level and quantity of counterfeiting have greatly exceeded that of the previous generation. In addition, the number of regional counterfeiting centers has also increased. Shanghai and Beijing have concentrated a group of anti-counterfeiting experts. In addition to adding false inscriptions to the genuine products, it is also common to forge the whole products. Today, a considerable number of counterfeit bronzes collected by public and private cultural relics collectors at home and abroad belong to those made after the Republic of China.
2. The main achievements of bronze identification in this century.
Because of the long history of forged bronzes, especially the mass production of fakes since modern times, the identification of forged bronzes has become an important content of bronze research in the Republic of China. 1936, Mr. Xu Zhongshu wrote "On the Identification of Ancient Bronzes" (Journal of Archaeological Society, No.4, 1936). The first sentence said: "If we want to regard ancient bronzes as a science, then what we should do first is not to identify the authenticity." It can be seen that scholars have attached great importance to the identification of fakes at this time. Prior to this, Chen Jieqi, a famous scholar and collector, was the only scholar in modern times who put forward specific opinions on distinguishing forgeries with his rich experience (Sha Zhai Yi Yu). In addition, in 19 14, Wang Guowei wrote "Description Table of the Golden Inscriptions of the State Dynasty" (19 15,
Shangyu Roche Tang Xue Cluster Sculpture), under each category, counterfeit equipment and suspected counterfeit equipment are listed. Because Wang didn't see the original artifacts, judging by the inscriptions alone, it may not be all right, but it does have something to dig. 194 1 the publication of Rong Geng's "A General Examination of Yi wares in Shang and Zhou Dynasties" not only summed up some important principles of counterfeit identification on the basis of a detailed summary of the experience of previous dynasties, but also scientifically divided the fakes for the first time (some basic ideas in the book were further enriched in the "General Theory of Bronzes in Yin and Zhou Dynasties" published in 1958). Prior to this, Mr. Rong had also done a lot of specific research on distinguishing fakes. During the period from 1925 to 1927, he came into contact with the old collections of the Qing Dynasty because of his work. Therefore, he listed a List of the Authenticity of Bronze Inscriptions in the Western Qing Dynasty (Yanjing Journal No.5, 1929) and commented on the so-called "Four Books of the Western Qing Dynasty". At the same time of Rong's research, some scholars also wrote articles to identify forgeries, such as Shang Chengzuo's Study on the Fake Characters of Ancient Yi Instruments (the second issue of the third volume of Jinling Academic Journal, 1938), which was later supplemented (the important and valuable works on identifying forgeries in the Archaeological Journal during the Republic of China are roughly as above).
In the past twenty years, some important works have been published on the issue of identifying the authenticity of bronzes, and new progress has been made in science and fineness. Some authors have been engaged in the protection and restoration of bronzes for many years in the field of cultural relics, so the discussion is more empirical. The most important thing in the 1970s was
The theoretical work is Zhang Guangyu's "Inscription of Yi wares in Pre-Qin Dynasty".
Introduction (doctoral thesis, China Institute of Literature, National Taiwan Province Provincial University, June 1974) This book first examines in detail the historical facts of imitation and forgery of ancient bronzes in history, and explains the counterfeiting technology, technological characteristics and understanding level of different dynasties; Then the methods and types of forgery are discussed in detail, especially the study of inscription forgery. This book also discusses the attitude and method of bronze ware appraisal in detail, and scientifically evaluates and summarizes the existing achievements from the perspective of methodology. There is also the next part of this book, entitled "More than 60 words of pre-Qin documents", which quotes 55 fake documents.
Since the 1980s, there have been many works on bronze identification, among which the important ones are:
Chen Peifen's "Identifying Counterfeit Bronzes" (Shanghai Museum Collection No.3, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House) is based on the rich collections of Shanghai Museum, pointing out the flaws of counterfeit products from the perspective of casting technology, and explaining the fact that counterfeit products are more important than genuine products (rarely clarified in the past). The inscriptions and ornamentation of fakes discussed in this paper are mostly excellent products in fakes. It is very helpful to improve the level of identifying fakes by analyzing their loopholes and disadvantages.
Cheng Changxin, Wang Wenchang, Cheng Ruixiu's "Discrimination of Bronzes (Up, Middle and Down)" (cultural relicsNo. 1989, No.8,No. 1 1 2), taking the counterfeit specimens collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing as an example, When discussing the methods of counterfeiting, the article also analyzes the methods of counterfeiting in detail with physical specimens. All these are extremely beneficial to the actual work of counterfeiting.
The Comprehensive Table of Four Mirrors of Qianlong (Zhonghua Book Company, 1989) further analyzes and sorts out the "four mirrors" of Qianlong on the basis of studying the inscriptions in the Western Qing Dynasty, verifies the importance of distinguishing the false from the true, and puts forward many new opinions. At the end of the book, there is a "list of counterfeit and suspected counterfeit equipment", which provides a good method for scientific use of the "Four Courses".
In addition to the above works, there is Luo's "A Record of Discrimination of Bronze Inscriptions in Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties" (the eleventh series of "Research on Ancient Characters", 1985), which focuses on the in-depth study of bronze forgery in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China; Wang Wenchang's Discrimination of Some Bronzes Collected in the Palace Museum (Journal of the Palace Museum,No. 1989,No. 1) and Discrimination of Bronzes (Li of the Palace Museum,No. 1983, No.2); Wang Rongda talks about the authenticity identification of Shang and Zhou bronzes from the perspective of restoration (Archaeology and Cultural Relics, No.2,1987); Du Naisong's Introduction to Bronze Identification in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties (Journal of the Palace Museum, No.4, 1990). Du Wen's detailed description of imitation bronzes from Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty is unique.
In recent years, the identification of bronzes has changed from the investigation of all aspects of the surface to the investigation of the internal structure of bronzes with the help of modern scientific and technological means, such as observing the washers in Shang and Zhou bronzes with high-intensity X-ray perspective to determine the authenticity. The research achievements in this field include Zhang Shixian's Textual Research on Mao's Authenticity, as follows.
The following summary of bronze identification refers to the opinions of the above scholars.
3. The main types of forged bronzes and their identification.
There are four main types of forged bronzes. The following are the forgery techniques and identification points of these four types:
(A) the real change
That is, the physical processing is transformed into a strange shape that does not conform to the rules. People who fall into this category have different methods.
Method 1: Add parts to the main body of the real musical instrument. For example, the utensils collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing in the late Yin Dynasty or the early Western Zhou Dynasty are authentic, and the word "Father B" is engraved on the inner bottom. Now the mouth of this vessel is first-class, and bamboo is added to the neck. The colors of streamer and bamboo skin are different from those of the body, which is obviously a back match. In addition, there are about 30 pieces in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, with missing covers and warped beams. Now, the double half-ring ears of this device are added with a bit ring, which was intentionally transformed into a pot shape in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, but the shape and decoration are still different from this pot.
The second technique is to piece together several genuine articles, most of which do not conform to the genuine article system, or to throw some parts that do not conform to the genuine article system at will. The shape of the object made by this technology is also easy to see through because it is not a cow or a horse. In the Ming Dynasty, Gao Lian called it "changing shovel" in "New Forged Counterfeit Banknotes" (Zunsheng Badie 14: 28).
No love. "But it's too difficult, there are no rules, it is easy to identify. Artifacts forged in this way can be found in the Palace Museum in Qing Dynasty, such as Six Ancient Mirrors in Western Qing Dynasty. Eleven "Pan Kui Wen Ding", in order to get the first half of the chastity department, the second half suddenly met with three tripod feet, which is quite strange. Just like the book 10: 40 "Zhou Beast Ring", it is a nondescript device with the first ring as the ear and three and a half rings under it.