Since having visited the Shanghai Museum’s Chinese bronze gallery, I have developed a sincere interest in the art form. Specifically, I was taken by the detailed patterns, geometric designs, animal motifs and function of the pieces. Easily overwhelmed by the beauty and craftsmanship, I attempted to conceive how they might have made almost 4,000 years ago. Though I am hardly knowledgeable about ancient Chinese culture, through a western view my perception has been that of awe and amazement concerning early Chinese technological developments. After viewing the incredible collection of bronzes, in addition to the other exhibits on ancient Chinese ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, jade, coins, furniture, seals, and minority nationalities my perception of ancient Chinese civilization was effortlessly affirmed.
The great 'Ke ding', Reign of King Xiao of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Unearthed at Famen Temple, Fufeng County, Shaanxi Providence Height 93.1cm/ Weight 201.5 kg (444.23 lbs).
The earliest bronzes discovered are from the ancient Majiayao culture during the Neolithic period 5,000 years ago. The early development and quality of the art form is quite unique to Chinese culture and speaks highly of its capacity to produce such works as it entered the bronze age in 2,000 BC.
This chariot was my first view of any Chinese bronze work at the Shanghai museum, it speaks for itself as an indication of how magnificent ancient Chinese civilization must have been. It was not until viewing the bronzes exhibited in the museum was I truly able to appreciate the significance of bronze production. I began to speculate the implications of a society's capacity to produce such works. Foremost, how productive Chinese civilization must have been to dedicate such vast amounts of resources to mining the minerals, copper and tin (some times lead), in order to produce bronze. Unfortunately, further research has informed me as you might have expected, slave labor is part of the answer. Yet despite the use of slave labor, only a well organized and powerful society could allocate so much time and resources to produce such bronze works.
The infrastructure of bronze producing region must have dedicated a large portion of its resources to support mining laborers, not to mention the later production and transportation. Discovered in 1972, excavation of the Tongglushan refining site in the Hubei Providence is evidence of the scale of mining that took place. Found there was a heap containing over 40,000 tons of slag, and timber supports of over 3,500 cubic meters. Excavation of the mine indicated that the design of the shafts, over 50 meters below the earth, are the same used today by non-mechanical operations.
The infrastructure of bronze producing region must have dedicated a large portion of its resources to support mining laborers, not to mention the later production and transportation. Discovered in 1972, excavation of the Tongglushan refining site in the Hubei Providence is evidence of the scale of mining that took place. Found there was a heap containing over 40,000 tons of slag, and timber supports of over 3,500 cubic meters. Excavation of the mine indicated that the design of the shafts, over 50 meters below the earth, are the same used today by non-mechanical operations.
How Bronze Castings Were Made
1. Exact model of item to be made from clay.
2. Sections of clay pressed around the outside and inside of the model.
3. Sections of clay retaining the shape and relief of the model were half dried and touched up.
4. A layer the exact thickness of the wall of the item was shaved away from the model.
5. The model and castings (sections of clay) are dried in a kiln.
6. The mold pieces assembled.
7. Molten bronze poured in.
8. Polished after cooling with wet stones and in some cases charcoal for a high gloss.
1. Exact model of item to be made from clay.
2. Sections of clay pressed around the outside and inside of the model.
3. Sections of clay retaining the shape and relief of the model were half dried and touched up.
4. A layer the exact thickness of the wall of the item was shaved away from the model.
5. The model and castings (sections of clay) are dried in a kiln.
6. The mold pieces assembled.
7. Molten bronze poured in.
8. Polished after cooling with wet stones and in some cases charcoal for a high gloss.
This is quite an oversimplified explanation for there are many complicated techniques implemented to over come various challenges craftsmen encountered. The techniques developed over the dynasties were quite ingenious. These steps of production were reserved for the most skilled slaves. For example, a finer clay was used in the inner-wall of the mold to permit gas created during cooling to escape thus accommodating for any bubbles that might affect the surface design. It is suggested that for the creation of the 'Si Mu ding' would have required several kilns to fire at ounce in order prepare such a quantity of bronze (875 kg). Many other steps that may appear to be easily understood were actually quite complicated such as the design of animals, movable parts and multi-piece works.
Percentage Copper | Percentage Tin | |
For bells and cooking vessles: | 6 parts | 1 part |
For axes and adzes | 5 parts | 1 part |
For battle-axes and halberds | 4 parts | 1 part |
For large knives | 3 parts | 1 part |
For arrowheads | 5 parts | 2 parts |
For mirrors and igniting mirrors | 1 part | 1/2 part |
Types of Bronzes
- Ritual Bronze (Food/Wine/Water Vessels):
- Ding- A four footed container speculated to have been used for various uses, one of them a container for water to used as a mirror, cooking vessel.
- Jue- Is a tripod goblet for drinking wine, having a narrow spout, handle, and some times two objects resembling horns on either side of the spout on which cloth was placed to collect sediment from the wine. The tripod allowed the wine to be heated over a flame.
- Hu- Was a wine container taking various forms, used for storage or pouring.
- Gui- A round footed bowl used for holding cooked rice or millet.
- Nao- Is bell, or percussion instrument.
- Drums- Large bronze shaped drum.
- Weapons:
- Ge- A "dagger-axe" used for hooking and slashing was in the shape of and ox tongue.
- Mao- Is a spear for which the bronze tip was attached to a wooden pole.
- Ji- Was a halberd designed as a combination of a spear and dagger-axe.
- Yue- Or battle axe was only used in executions. The Chinese character is a pictograph of a man's head being cut off.
- Dao- Is a war knife used in battle.
- Swords of course!
- Tools:
- Si- A plowing tool. This sharp flat tool attached to along curved handle was used to turn soil by pushing it into the ground by foot.
- Lei- A forked tool used similarly to the si was used for digging whole.
- Cha- Or spade was used for digging ditches, has a square blade with rounded corners.
- Chan- Similar to shovel is used for moving dirt and has a flat wide head.
- Fu- Is an axe, many kinds have been discovered and were used for cutting wood.
- Lian- Is a sickle, two types have been discovered and were used for harvesting as plant cutting tool.
- Nou- Originally meaning large clam shell was a weeding tool.
Of course there were many types of bronzes, but these are a few examples of most common bronzes discovered, most often in ancient burial tombs. As these (ritual bronzes) would have been used only by nobles or only the emperor himself. There a many complex design variations with abundant use symmetry, animal masks and motifs, effective design in form and function, size and use. Over time the design and beauty of bronze production increased as dynasties can be characterized by their own style of adornments. Slave craftsmen had developed sophisticated ways of making more and more elaborate and complicated designs of symbolic significance. The ancient Chinese bronzes are known to have the great variety of wine vessels of any other culture. As slave owning and wine drinking nobles can be traced back to the early period of bronze production around 1400-1500 BC.
I hope this blog has helped convey to you the awe I feel towards early Chinese culture and how bronze works are an indication of a highly developed and powerful civilization. There are however a few questions that still remain. Though it has been goal of this entry to provide evidence, what are the reasons for such a powerful empire. Of course the answer is not simple and there are many factors that must have lead to the success of ancient Chinese culture. Their environments ability to provide resources was above all necessary, slave labor also must have played a major role. Yet often times racial superiority is discounted, maybe the Chinese were simply genetically inclined to be superior civilization. Consider this, there is evidence that Chinese bronze was developed without influence from outside cultures, they developed the technology all on their own.
Why Chinese bronze not on the UNESCO world heritage list? It would seem that it more than qualifies. My personal opinion is that it has to do with marketability. While other things such as the Cantonese opera and Great Wall of China bring in a lot of money. It may Chinese bronze may be seen as more difficult to market. Though many replicas can be found for sale, they are not as popular as replica terra-cotta warriors and though archeological sites have provided us a great deal of information these sites may not be as interesting to view as the Great Wall of China. Further more bronze may not be considered unique enough to Chinese culture as other civilizations, though not as beautiful, also developed bronze technology. It may also be true that the period in which Chinese bronze was produced is of greater significance than the bronze themselves.
Perhaps as China returns to its historical position as the worlds most power nation bronze may enjoy a reemergence as an art form and tribute to ancient China's past.
Photos take by me on my trip to the Shanghai Museum.
Sources: Hsio-Yen, Shih. Ancient Chinese Bronzes. Hong Kong: Golden Cup Printing, 1982. Print.
