Lotus crane square pot, tall and peculiar, with novel patterns and complex structure, is a masterpiece of bronze craft in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is made of clay as a model, baked into a ceramic model, pre-cast parts respectively, and cast as a whole. Lotus crane is cast on a flat plate and can be disassembled separately. Lotus petals are pre-cast, and then combined with the cover body for shallow casting. The four-cornered dragon on the ear, cup and abdomen, the dragon on the front and back of the neck and the two dragon feet are all pre-cast and then combined with the main body of the vessel. This technology began in Shang Dynasty and further developed in Spring and Autumn Period. This is an outstanding achievement in the history of foundry technology in China. It is an ancient Chinese bronze found at present, with a large structure, some of which are decorated with inlaid ornaments, also known as golden carvings. 1973, Shi Shuqing, a famous scholar in China, published an article "Gold Fault Technology in Ancient China" in "Cultural Relics", which mainly talked about this method. It is made in four steps: the first step is to pre-carve a groove for the master mold, so that the gold and silver can be embedded in the groove after the vessel is cast. The second step is gouging. "After the bronze casting is completed, the grooves need to be chiseled and finely decorated. It is necessary to draw a pattern on the surface of the vessel with an ink pen, and then cut a shallow groove according to the pattern. This was called engraving in ancient times, and it was also called engraving gold. " The third step is mosaic. The fourth step, grinding wrong. "After the gold thread or gold piece is inlaid, the surface of the bronze ware is uneven, so it must be polished with staggered stones, so that the gold thread or gold piece and the surface of the bronze ware are naturally smooth and achieve a perfect fit." Edit this paragraph | Back-to-the-top painting This is the main decorative technique of gold and silver mistakes in the Han Dynasty. From the interpretation of the word "wrong" by the Han people, we can see that "wrong, gold painting is also".

According to documents and unearthed objects, the main process of "gold plating" method is as follows:

1, manufacturing "gold mercurial"

The manufacture of "gold amalgam" is a chemical process, that is, gold fragments are put into a crucible, heated to more than 400 degrees Celsius, and then seven times as much mercury as gold is added to dissolve it into liquid, making the so-called "mud gold".

2. Gold coating

Use clay gold to draw various intricate patterns and ornamentation on bronzes, or draw in pre-cast grooves.

3. golden barbecue

Bake with smokeless charcoal fire to evaporate mercury, and the gold pattern is fixed on the surface of bronze ware.

Today this method is called "gilding", but in ancient times it was called "golden fault". Because ancient picture decoration is also called "wrong". "Historical Records Zhao Shijia": "Tattoo, wrong arm and left leg". Original note: "It is said that Dan Qing painted his arm wrong". In ancient times, painting color was also called "wrong color". In Zhong Rong's poems, "Tang Huixiu said: Xie Lingyun's poems are like lotus water, and Yan () is like gold in the wrong color". Wrong color and gold engraving are two different things: as mentioned above, the first mosaic method is what Shi Shuqing called "gold engraving"; The second method mentioned here, that is, the "golden lacquer" method, is "wrong color". If the whole object is colored with gold, there is no "wrong color" and no pattern, it is plain color, not "golden fault"

There was a special misplacement of gold and silver in the bronze craft of Han Dynasty. The workers in charge of this process are called "gold and silver paintings", which means articles and decorations. The so-called "gold and silver painting" is to draw patterns with gold and silver on bronzes. Because there was a system of naming objects in the Han Dynasty, in some inscriptions on gold, silver and bronze wares in the Han Dynasty, we can often see the names of works such as "gold and silver paintings", "yellow paintings" or simply "paintings".

Most of the existing bronzes in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties are made by this "gold and silver painting" method. We found that many exquisite gold and silver staggered bronzes praised by archaeologists and cultural relics experts had no dents where the gold and silver staggered patterns fell off. You can see at a glance that the pattern of gold and silver is not embedded, but painted. Such as 1987, the gold and silver staggered tiger swallowing deer platform unearthed from the tomb of Zhongshan King in Pingshan County, Hebei Province, is recognized as the masterpiece of gold and silver staggered. However, careful people will definitely find that a small piece of gold staggered pattern has fallen off the tiger's tail, but there is no dent in the falling place, knowing that it is not embedded, but painted. In addition, it is said that the wrong animal mirror unearthed from the Warring States Tomb in Jincun, Luoyang, Henan Province is also recognized as a fine product of gold and silver. But after careful observation, it is found that there is no dent in the place where the wrong gold falls off, and you can know at a glance that it is a "golden paint" method. Another example is the existing bird-patterned pot in Sacola Art Museum in the United States, which is recognized as a masterpiece of gold and silver, but there is no dent in the misplaced place of gold and silver, and you can know it is a "gold-plated" product at a glance. There are many such examples, too numerous to mention. Technical mysteries of complex objects.