"Collection"
antiques show on BTV
English
version reprinted
from danwei.org
English Version reprinted from: danwei.org
Actor Wang Gang, an avid collector of
antiques, is the new host of a show called "Collection"
on Beijing TV. Like other antiques shows, participants
on "Collection" submit their antique ceramics
or artwork to a panel of experts for a judgment of provenance.
What distinguishes "Collection" from those
other shows is that Wang destroys any pieces that are
found to be counterfeit. From Beijing Daily Messenger:
...Wang Gang and the crew cooked up
a golden mallet and a judge's brush; if, during the
program, an object brought by a collector is fake, Wang
Gang will take up the mallet and smash it. If a painting
brought by a collector is fake, Wang will mercilessly
destroy it with the brush dipped in red ink. This is
done so that the fake pieces cannot be returned to the
antiques marketplace.
Through 20 January, nine episodes of
"Collection" had been recorded and three had
aired. In those nine episodes, Wang smashed a total
of 7 fake ceramics and destroyed a number of paintings.
As for whether collectors are willing
to accept the destruction of their treasures on the
program, Wang Gang said that China's antiques world
has a tradition of smashing counterfeits. Many major
collectors have accidentally acquired fakes and have
smashed them themselves. So if pieces were not destroyed
on the program, true collectors would smash them once
they returned home since they now knew they were counterfeit.
"Collection" producer Zhao Chunhua said that
before recording the program the crew informs the collectors
of this phase, and if they are willing to participate,
they sign a "letter of challenge" acknowledging
that their objects will be smashed if they are found
to be fake.
Xi'an Evening News notes that pieces
that are clearly marked as imitations will get a reprieve.
Collectors are also able to save their fake treasures
from the golden mallet by making a public acknowledgement
that the pieces are counterfeits.
Wang said that at least one piece has
been smashed on each episode, and in one installment,
all three items submitted to the experts were ruled
fake.
The show airs weekly on BTV-1 at 22:05
Saturday and repeats at 11:05 Sunday and on BTV-5 at
10:05 Saturday.
There's
no place like home for Chinese antiques
From the China Daily
2006-09-22 09:43
An increasing number of Chinese antiques
scattered overseas will return and show up in Beijing
auctions in the coming years.
So said Kong Fanzhi, administration director of the
Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage.
However, there are worries that fake
goods could damage the antique auction sector which
has been experiencing massive growth since 2003.
Kong said customs statistics show that
about 10,000 Chinese ancient works of art have come
back since January this year, with more returning every
year.
Their return is expected to further
boost the antique auction market in Beijing.
The market is expected to hit 20 billion
yuan (US$2.47 billion) in trade volume in 2010, almost
doubling the 2005 figure.
The proportion of returned relics is
likely to be as much as 35 per cent of the total antiques
to go under the hammer in 2010, Kong said yesterday.
He was introducing the work plan for
his administration for 2006-2010.
The plan is part of Beijing's overall
11th Five-Year Plan, the basic document guiding the
city's social and economic development in the next five
years.
Fu Gongyue, deputy chief of the market
division of the administration, said the antique market
in Beijing is facing the growing threat of fake products,
which may hamper the booming market.
"This danger may impact on this
year's antique auction market," Fu observed, adding
that the trade volume at antique auctions might not
enjoy the same growth speed as in the past few years.
Kong said the Chinese Antique &
Art Fair, a renowned antique trading platform held every
autumn in Beijing, will be staged twice a year in the
near future.
The trade volume at each fair is expected
to top 600 million yuan (US$75 million) in 2010.
Turnover at this year's fair, which
ran for four days in August, was about 550 million yuan
(US$69 million), according to Fu.
(China Daily 09/22/2006 page3)
US
considers Chinese request for import restrictions
September 2005
From http://chinadigitaltimes.net http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2005/04/chinas_request.php
US considers Chinese request for import restrictions
September 2005
By Jason Edward Kaufman
NEW YORK. On 8 September members of the US Cultural
Property Advisory Committee met to discuss the
renewal of import restrictions on Italian antiquities.
Arguments for and against were heard and a decision
will be taken 90 days after CPAC submits a report
to the State Department.
Meanwhile, the US State Department
has built a wall of secrecy around a request
from the Peoples Republic of China that the
US implement a blanket ban on import of all
Chinese cultural material made before 1911.
The PRC submitted their request
in Fall 2004, and the Cultural Property Advisory
Committee (CPAC) that advises the State Department
on such policy matters has been deliberating
in secret ever since. Other than a single public
hearing that took place in February, members
of the public—including the press—have
been shut out of the process.
The Chinese asked for the embargo
in an effort to reclaim stolen goods and to
stem looting and illicit export of archaeological
material by reducing the market demand overseas.
The request was made under the 1970 Unesco Convention
regarding cultural property. According to the
1987 US law implementing the Unesco accord,
to approve the request the CPAC must determine
not only that the cultural patrimony of the
State Party (i.e., China) is in jeopardy from
pillage of archaeological or ethnological materials,
and that the State Party has taken measures
to protect its cultural patrimony. It also must
determine that application of the import restrictions
would be “of substantial benefit in deterring
a serious situation of pillage” if the
request is “applied in concert with similar
restrictions” by nations having a significant
trade in such imported material.
Opponents argue that China has
a deplorable record of protecting its cultural
patrimony, much of which was destroyed by Red
Guards in the Cultural Revolution, desecrating
in campaigns in Tibet, and inundated by the
construction of Three Gorges Dam. They further
argue that China has not done due diligence
in enforcing its own export restrictions, and
that the US is being singled out among many
countries—including China itself—
where large markets in Chinese cultural goods
exist. The Chinese have an expanding auction
market and private trade.
Archaeologists wish to implement
the ban because they see it as a way of staunching
the looting of archaeological sites. Collectors,
dealers, and the auction houses— whose
trade would be slashed if the ban were imposed—have
argued against the ban, hiring lawyers to press
their case in Washington. Some museums also
have come out against the blanket ban, which
would limit their ability to add to their collections.
They fear the embargo may open the door to legal
actions against works they own that have questionable
provenance. But despite the very real public
interest at stake in the decision, the government
has denied access to the original Chinese-language
request, refused allow the public to attend
CPAC meetings, and refused even to disclose
the status of the request.
“There continues to be
a wall of secrecy thrown up by the State Department
around this proceeding”, says James Fitzpatrick,
a Washington lawyer representing New York-based
Chinese art dealer James Lally. “Any effort
to gain transparency is strongly rejected”,
he says. Sotheby’s attorney Michael McCullough,
vice president and compliance officer in New
York, is working on behalf of the auction house
in the US, but was unavailable for comment.
One of the trade’s crucial
complaints is that CPAC is heavily biased in
favour of the archaeological point of view.
CPAC’s decisions are only advisory, but
the State Department generally abides by CPAC’s
recommendations, and the current composition
of the committee is slanted in favour of the
pro-restriction point of view. The committee
consists of 11 Presidential appointees intended
to represent museums (two), the trade (three),
the scholarly field (three) and the public (three).
Chairman Jay Kislak, a Florida collector of
Americana, is neutral, but two of the three
academic members are archaeologists Nancy Wilke
and Joan Connelly, and the other is anthropologist
James Lorand Matory, all pro-archaeology. The
two museum members are both with the Field Museum
in Chicago, an archaeological museum that does
business in and with China, and both are pro-archaeology.
And one of the three public members, Marta de
la Torre, worked at the Getty and was involved
with conservation and is pro-archaeology. That
gives the pro-archaeology corner a majority
in any vote.
Several months ago, lawyers
for the trade submitted a petition to disqualify
the two members who had worked for the Field
Museum in Chicago on the grounds that they had
a conflict of interest in that their museum
had partnered with the Chinese government on
income-earning exhibitions. Field director John
McCarter and former director Willard Boyd should
be recused from voting on the China request,
the petition maintained, because they are not
impartial as required by government regulations.
The State Department ignored the petition, and
the museum people remain voting members of CPAC.
Furthermore, according to multiple
sources, the State Department commissioned a
report by art-market statistician David Kusin
to determine the size of the Chinese art market
in the US. “We know from people close
to the author that the data indicated that the
Chinese domestic market is many times the size
of the US market”, says Mr Fitzpatrick.
“If the theory is that market demand fuels
looting, the fact is that the Chinese domestic
market is the main source of demand for Chinese
antiquities, not the US. But we understand that
report was never given to CPAC because it didn’t
provide data supporting the Chinese request”,
he says. Peter Tompa, a Washington lawyer representing
a numismatic association, submitted a Freedom
of Information Act request to secure the document,
but his request has not been fulfilled.
A similar attempt to secure
the original Chinese request in Chinese also
has been rejected by the bureaucrats. “It
is important because Chinese officials have
said all they want to do is bar entry of stolen
property into this country”, says Mr Fitzpatrick,
noting that the request made public by the government
is more far-reaching. “We are highly skeptical
that this wasn’t contrived by the CPAC
staff itself”, he says. Why would the
US itself expand restrictions on behalf of the
Chinese? Some believe that with the US government
engaged in negotiations concerning trade, monetary
policy, copyright law, and the situation in
the Taiwan Straits, the cultural ban may be
a trading chip.
Xie Chensheng, a senior cultural
heritage preservation expert, told China Daily,
“Cultural wealth can be shared by the
whole world, but not the ownership. Just like
the property rights on software, ownership of
lost Chinese cultural treasures should lie with
the Chinese people”. Calls to the State
Department seeking comment were not returned.
|
Panjiayuan
offers treasure trove for antique lovers
Last Updated (Beijing Time):2006-03-02
09:16
Source:China Daily
"Veteran patrons now make their purchases
in cheap hotels around the neighbourhood rather
than in the open-air market," Song said.
"Sellers arrive in Beijing on Wednesday or
Thursday, stay in these hotels costing 20 to 30
yuan (US$2.40-3.60) a night and call their old,
regular clients to come."
"Walk
into one of the rooms and you will find antiques
piled on the bed and on the ground. You have a
big chance of getting an authentic antique at
a great price if that vendor is a farmer selling
items collected from villages around his home.
"But
to be included on the farmer's calling list, you
have to be introduced to the farmer by one of
his trusted clients," he said.
With
more than 10,000 people selling frequently and
a much larger number of those buying on a regular
basis, a small "inner society" with
a hierarchy has come into being at Panjiayuan.
At
the top of the hierarchy are mainly those who
have been involved in the curio market since its
humble beginnings in a hutong on the southeastern
bank of Houhai Lake beside the Forbidden City,
Song said.
Beijingers
in need of money in the 1980s were the first to
take artworks from their family collections there
to sell at the weekend.
Such
trading among individuals was forbidden at the
time, and both buyers and sellers had to run fast
every time the police arrived.
The
black market for these artworks developed fast.
By 1990, the 200-metre hutong had become so crowded
on weekends that people began to move their businesses
into a small patch of woods beside the Panjiayuan
Bridge.
Hiding
in the woods, hawkers spread antiques often in
the shadows of boulders. Many of them were farmers
from suburban Beijing or nearby provinces who
sold items collected in their villages.
"Local
authorities wanted to put an end to this business
in the woods but failed," Song said. "They
then had the idea of building a market and letting
the hawkers pay rent."
The
Panjiayuan Curio Market was established in 1995
as the first legal antiques market in Beijing.
A stall in its semi-covered area costs the vendor
100 yuan (US$12) a day; a space in the open air
costs 50 yuan (US$6) a day.
Many
areas of art trading including both transactions
and auctions were legalized in 1994. Since then
art markets have been appearing with lightning
speed. Today, more than 30 of them sell goods
in and around Beijing.
But
Panjiayuan is indisputably the most prosperous.
It has more than 3,000 stalls and open-air spaces
leased every day at the weekend.
Second
is the Baoguosi Curio Market, located in the backyard
of the Baoguosi Temple, which was first built
in the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) in the southern
part of downtown Beijing.
Actually
a stall at Panjiayuan can be so hot that a number
of early arrivals make big profits by renting
stalls from market administrators for a long-term
period and leasing them out to hawkers on a daily
basis at a price much higher than 100 yuan a day,
Song said.
And
since the market opened, stalls in its semi-covered
area, which has a big wooden roof supported by
pillars but no walls, have been divided into four
zones according to their items they have for sale.
The
zones are not marked but easily distinguishable.
The
southeastern portion is called Zone One by Panjiayuan's
veteran patrons. There are rows of Chinese paintings,
calligraphic works on sale as well as beads and
small jade articles.
A
visitor needs to realize that the paintings and
calligraphic works are generally handmade but
mass-produced and should not be more expensive
than 500 yuan (US$60), according to Wang, an expert
on Chinese paintings at the Rongbao Auction Co
Ltd who frequents Panjiayuan.
But
the cheap beads, especially those made of colourful
glass, can be a gold mine for Song, who travels
into the mountains of China's underdeveloped western
provinces for research on primitive tribes which
he has been doing for more than three decades.
"I
get dozens of glass bead necklaces here every
time I go to Guizhou or Yunnan because people
who live so far from civilization get so excited
when I send them a shining necklace that they
often invite me to dinner in their homes,"
he said.
Besides
the beads, antiques of all kinds - old books and
files, bronze vessels, ceramic vases and small
wooden furniture - are on sale in Zone Two, the
north-eastern portion.
Since
farmers, who are often more honest than full-time
antiques dealers, like to gather in the area,
it is the part of Panjiayuan where buyers have
the best chance of getting a genuine antique at
a bargain price, Song said.
One
can also find in this part documents and souvenirs
of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76)
at a reasonable price.
Cheaper
versions of the same kind can be found among the
piles of second-hand books in the open air.
The
southwestern part of the semi-covered area, known
as Zone Three, has antiques of Chinese ethnic
minorities on sale, many of which are from the
Tibet Autonomous Region.
"One
can see a more complete an array of Tibetan cultural
relics in Panjiayuan than in a Tibetan village,"
remarked Chen Yu, a researcher of Tibetan studies
at the National Museum of China.
A
bang on the man-sized Tibetan drum, with ox skins
as its membranes, could easily give a start to
everyone in the market. A small, strange-looking
silver article reputed to be a musical instrument
used in a Buddhist mass was a point of some controversy
when rumours began circulating about the skin
used for its membranes. Could it have been human?
Chinese
ceramics fill the ground in Zone Four, the northwestern
section, but most of them are newly made, and
a larger part of the so-called antique ones are
actually fakes, Song said.
"Those
who make fakes are constantly improving their
skills, and a buyer has to be especially cautious,"
he said.
These
people soak newly made bronzes into acid to make
them rusty, and bury poor-quality jade in the
ground with dead poultry to give them that antique
look, he added.
Those
who have no expertise to tell the genuine articles
from the fakes here will find no place to complain
and also little sympathy.
"Caveat
emptor," or "let the buyer beware"
the rule of the ancient Roman markets also applies
to Panjiayuan.
Some
tips for determining the authenticity of Chinese
antiques can be invaluable:
An
established antique furniture dealer in Beijing
says the easiest way to tell the authenticity
of an antique furniture is to lift it; an authentic
old piece, generally made of hard wood, should
be much heavier than a contemporary one.
If
you knock on the panels, the sounds are different.
The wood of the fake furniture is generally thinner
and emits a clearer and harsh sound.
Table
surfaces and wardrobe doors, if truly antique,
have a finer texture than most replicas, which
do not contain such artistic spirit.
To
those who are not that confident of their own
expertise, Song and Chen offer this advice:
Always
bargain hard and remember that the final price
should be no more than one-third of the vendor's
original asking price.
|
Rebecca
Sherman On Her Chinese Love Affair
http://www.dhomeandgarden.com/
by Rebecca Sherman, Photo by
Dave Shafer
Moment of Truth
In China, the trade in fakes is big. The Chinese
will fake anything, especially ancient porcelains,
which they’ve been faking for centuries.
A fang gu, or imitation, might be many hundreds
of years old, pretending to be even older. My
first encounter with Chinese porcelains came during
a trip in 1996 to visit my brother, who was working
in China.
I landed at night in Shanghai, the legendary
port on the Yangtze River Delta in east China.
The next morning, I peered out the window of our
hotel room at a city of cranes and scaffolding.
Dozens of new skyscrapers were going up on the
harbor, as if they couldn’t wait to catch
up to the Western world. The horizon buzzed with
energy. Below, in the hotel gardens, on the sidewalks,
and nearby in Pudong Park, a sea of old men and
women performed slow, graceful tai chi movements.
The contrast was exhilarating.
After a traditional, if less exhilarating, breakfast
of watery rice, shredded pork, and unidentifiable
vegetables, I headed across the street to Shanghai’s
official, government-run antiques store. Chinese
antiquities must bear an official wax seal in
order to leave the country legally, plus, at a
government-sanctioned store, the chances of buying
a fake were less.
 |
Inside, I was taken by a 1950s era, red alarm
clock with Mao Zedong painted on its face and
contemplated buying it. That was before I spied
the blue and white double happiness vase. Its
abstracted sweet pea vine pattern was staggeringly
beautiful. The glaze had a centuries-worn, fine
crackle to it, and on the inside bottom, there
was a layer of rock-hard dirt, calcified from
age. Fine pots made for the Imperial families
are no longer allowed to be exported from China.
In fact, a Chinese national who attempts to smuggle
an Imperial pot outside the country faces life
in prison or death. Unrefined “peoples ware”
or everyday objects such as the double happiness
vase, are plentiful, having been stored en masse
for decades or centuries in barns and warehouses.
At 12 yuan, the vase cost my entire souvenir
budget, but I gave in and bought it anyway. This
marked the start of an obsession with blue and
white, one that continues to muddle my brain every
time I see a beautiful example. Wikipedia defines
the verb Shanghaied as “the act of forcibly
conscripting someone to serve a term working on
a ship, usually after having been rendered senseless
by alcohol or drugs.” Shanghaied. That’s
what I was, addled by the heady beauty of a single
Chinese porcelain, and forever enslaved.
The vase turned out to be real, though common.
The fakes came later, after I discovered eBay
six years ago. I bought a few “old”
blue and white pieces from online dealers based
in Shanghai for a pittance, only to be blindsided
by enormous shipping and handling costs. My pots
arrived after slow passage, their boxes stamped
with graphic Chinese lettering. Even the postage
was beautiful. I opened the first and my heart
sank. The blue and white colors of my “19th
century Yuan-style” vase were dull. Its
pristine glaze was obviously brand new. The pot
was just plain ugly. I turned it over, and oddly
enough, water poured out. The next box held a
large gourd-shaped vase that had split perfectly
in half at a vertical seam, like a slice of Wonder
Bread. These pots were so newly made that they
must have been put in their boxes fresh from the
firing kilns.
An authentic “peoples ware” piece,
with its crude firing pits and fine, irregular
cracks, looks old. Age is hard to fake without
looking, well, fake. A genuine pot seems to hum
with trueness. Fang gu, on the other hand, clanks
with an ineffable discordance. Hardly science.
On a trip some years ago to San
Francisco, I stumbled upon a small shop filled
with beautiful Chinese pottery. The whole place
was “humming.” The proprietor, a silver-haired
woman, greeted me, and I noticed a framed appraiser’s
certificate from Sotheby’s on the wall.
She looked wise. Here was my chance to pick an
educated brain about fakes. How do you know when
a piece is real, I asked? She picked up a rustic
bowl with a dragon painted on it and cradled it
in her hands. It was exquisite, imperfect. “When
something is real, it speaks to you,” she
said, and handed me the bowl. I had expected a
short lesson on dynasty marks or some other appraiser’s
learned trick of the trade. Instead, she reaffirmed
what I already knew, that truth is revealed not
in outward appearance, but in soul.
Copyright © 2006 D Home
Magazine All rights reserved.
|
Ancient
Figurines
Reprinted
from :
1) “Things Chinese” by Feibao, Du. Publisher:
China Travel & Tourism Press, 2002
2) http://oldworld.sjsu.edu/asiangate/chinesetombs/tomb-tombs-page.ht
Most
ancient figurines were historically objects
of funerary practices. They have their origin
in the institution of immolation or burying
the living with the dead.
Immolation
was practiced in the period of slavery. In 1950,
excavations made of a Shang Dynasty (c. 17th
– 11th century B.C.) aristocrat’s tomb at Wuguan
Village, Anyang, Henan Province, brought to
light the remains of 79 slaves who had been
buried alive with their dead master. Besides
that, in 27 pits arranged in rows in front and
at the back of the tomb were discovered, buried
en masse, the skeletons of 207 other slaves
beheaded in immolation.
The cruel custom of burying the living with the
dead, though replaced by the burying of tomb figurines,
lingered on and was practiced in isolated cases
under nearly every dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty
(1368 – 1644), according to contemporary notes,
a human sacrifice was entertained to a sumptuous
feast to meet his last day before being led down
to an underground temple to meet his horrible
end. At the funeral of an emperor, palace maids
were reportedly pushed, one after another, onto
bed-like racks, and their heads into nooses, and
were hanged after the racks had been removed.
When Emperor Changzu of the Ming Dynasty died
in 1424, sixteen persons were buried alive with
him. In the eastern and western ‘wells’ on either
side of the Changling Mausoleum (the largest of
the Ming Tombs) are the remains of his immolated
concubines.
 After
the Qin and Han dynasties, tomb figurines began
to be used instead of human
beings.
Vast numbers of them, dating from the Warring
States Period (475 – 221 B.C.) down to the Ming
Dynasty (1368 – 1644), have been unearthed. They
are of various descriptions but most are made
of pottery and porcelain, next come wood and lacquer,
and occasionally jade. They represent people of
different status and walks – court officials,
musicians, dancers and acrobats. As a rule, they
are nicely modeled in
different
postures, constituting a valuable part of China’s
ancient art.
Jade
figurines first appeared in China during the 8th
to 3rd century B.C. A number of tiny jade figurines
were unearthed in 1974 from a mausoleum of the
ancient state of Zhongshan. Most of them appear
to be females, though some are males. They have
their hair done up in buns on the head – double
buns for women and single for the boys. They all
stand, holding their hands before their chest.
The females are clad in tight-sleeved dresses,
buttoned down the middle, and chequered long skirts.
The hairdo and costume must be true-to-life reproductions
of those prevalent in Zhongshan at the time.
The
Qin (221 – 206 B.C.) and Han (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.)
dynasties are noted for the high quality and large
numbers of pottery figurines they produced. In
1974 the famous terracotta warriors and horses
of Qin Shi Huang (the First Emperor of the Qin)
were discovered just east of his mausoleum. The
excavation is still going on, and Vault No 1alone
is expected to yield 6,000 of them. The life-sized
figures of men and hoses are in neat battle formation,
with the men holding real bronze weapons of the
time and reflecting the formidable might of the
legions of the First Emperor.
In
the winter of 1980, another valuable find was
made to the west of the mausoleum. Two bronze
carriages, standing one behind the other, were
discovered. Each was drawn by a team of four bronze
horses and driven by a driver, also made of bronze.
All figures are half life-size, weighing a total
of 1,800 kilograms. They are the earliest, largest,
most elaborate and best-preserved models of ancient
bronze carriages, complete with animals and drivers,
ever found in China. Each discovery at and near
the Qin Shi Huang mausoleum has caused – and will
cause – a stir among archaeologists the world
over.
Han
Dynasty figurines show clear influences of the
Qin, but are smaller in size. An impressive discovery
was made a few years ago in a Han tomb at Yangjiawan,
Xianyang, Shaanxi Province of a total of 3,000
painted pottery figures. Most of the standing
figurines represent warriors, and some of them
are equestrians. Compared with the human figures,the
horses are more expressive: some stand quietly
and others rear up with an unheard neigh. They
must be truthful portraits in sculpture of the
foot and mounted troops of the Han Dynasty.
With
the flourishing of ceramics during the Tang, Song
and Ming dynasties (10th – 17th century), the
tomb figurines of this long period are mostly
glazed pottery and porcelain, among which the
‘tri-coloured glazed pottery of the Tang’ is world-famous.
Out of the ancient tombs of Xi’an and Luoyang
have been unearthed many colour-glazed females,
horses and camels. Noteworthy especially are the
pottery camel drivers with their deep-set eyes,
protruding noses and hairy faces, evidently Central
Asians who plied the Silk Road with their caravans.
The ‘tri-coloured Tangs’ represent in effect a
special handicraft art careering solely to the
funerary needs of the aristocracy at the heyday
of China’s feudalism.
Wooden
figurines have a much longer history, which extends
back to the Warring States Period (475 – 221 B.C.).
They have been found in many ancient tombs of
different ages and in different localities. The
tomb of Zhu Tan, prince of Lu (the tenth son of
the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming),
situated in Zouxian, Shandong Province, yielded
in 1974 a total of 406 painted wood figures in
the formation of a long funeral procession. It
consists of three parts: musicians leading in
front, followed by attendants and military officers
in the middle, and civil officials bringing up
the rear. The figures – a sculptured model of
an early Ming (2nd half of the 14th century) funeral
– are on display in the Provincial Museum of Shandong
in Jinan.
Some
wood figurines have been found in the Dingling
Mausoleum of the Ming Tombs. They are few in number
and crude in workmanship, showing that wood figures
are already going out of vogue towards the end
of the dynasty.
During
the Qing Dynasty (1616 – 1911), paper figures
appeared; they were not buried with the dead but
were burnt at funerals to follow the dead to the
nether world. After the fall of the Qing, tomb
figures have fallen completely into disuse.
|
Chinese
Embroidery Styles
Embroidery
is a traditional Chinese craft which consists of pulling
colored threads through a background material with embroidery
needles to stitch colored patterns that have been previously
designed on the ground. The adoption of different needling
methods resulted in different Chinese embroidery styles
and technique schools. Chinese embroidery had already
reached a high level early in the Qin and Han dynasties,
and silk and embroidery were the main products transported
along the ancient Chinese Silk Road. The four famous
Chinese embroidery styles are the Su embroidery of Jiangsu
Province, the Xiang embroidery of Hunan Province, the
Yue embroidery of Guangdong Province and the Shu embroidery
of Sichuan Province.
Su
embroidery (Su Style Chinese Embroidery) has a history
of over 2000 years. It was produced on a large scale
during the Song Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty and
early Qing Dynasty, Shen Shou absorbed Japanese and
Western fine art sand combined them with traditional
Chinese embroidery skills to create the simulated embroidery
with ray effects. In the 1930s, the irregular embroidery
technique was created in the Zhengze Girl's Vocationa1
School in Danyang. In 1957, the Embroidery Research
Institute was established in Suzhou. Su embroidery is
known for its delicacy and elegance. The design is usually
very simple, high lighting a main theme. Its stitching
is smooth, dense, thin, neat, even, delicate and harmonious.
The thin thread is divided into up to 48 strands that
are barely visible to the naked eye. Double-sided embroidery
has the same pattern on both sides and uses the same
embroidering method that does not show the joins in
the stitches. Su embroidery products were sent to participate
in the Panama World Fair in 1915. Since then, the style
has become increasingly famous throughout the world.
View more detailed info about Su Style Chinese Embroidery
Xiang
embroidery (Xiang Style Chinese Embroidery) was initiated
in the Chu Kingdom of the Warring States Period. It
had become the main craft in places around Changsha,
capital city of Hunan Province, in the Qing Dynasty
Xiang embroidery was developed from Hunan folk embroidery
methods, but it also drew on the skills of Su embroidery
and Yue embroidery. Xiang embroidery products use loose
colorful threads to embroider the pattern and the stitches
are not as neat as those of other embroidery styles.
The various colored threads are mixed together, showing
a gradual change in color with a rich and harmonious
tone. Designs on Xiang embroidery mostly derive from
traditional Chinese paintings of landscapes, human figures,
flowers, birds and animals. The most common designs
on Xiang embroidery are lions and tigers. The tigers
appear strong and bold, revealing their power and menace
as a king of animals. Xiang embroidery won the best
award in the Torino World Fair in Italy in 1912 and
the First Award in the Panama World Fair in 1933. Xiang
embroidery is known abroad as the ideal embroidery.
Yue
embroidery (Yue Style Chinese Embroidery) was entirely
developed in the Tang Dynasty Ancient Chinese craftsmen
used peacock feathers twisted together as the embroidering
thread to stitch the ornamental designs; horsetail was
used to stitch the outline to make the work more expressive.
The designs of Yue embroidery are rich and complicated
in content with bright colors and strong decorative
effects. The embroidery is smooth and even. One type,
gold and silver cushion embroidery, creates a magnificent
three-dimensional effect Yue embroidery has a wide range
of designs, the most common ones being birds worshipping
the sun, dragons and phoenixes. Yue embroidery includes
the Guang and Chao branches which have different stitching
styles.
Shu
embroidery products are mostly found in Chengdu, the
capital city of Sichuan Province. They are made with
soft satins and colored threads as the raw materials
are embroidered by hand. The varied stitching methods
form their unique local style' Designs on Shu embroidery
include flowers, birds, landscapes, fish, worms and
human figures. The products themselves include quilt
covers, pillow covers, back cushions, table cloths,
scarves and handkerchiefs.
Besides
the four major Chinese embroidery styles, there are
Ou embroidery of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, Bian embroidery
of Kaifeng, Henan Province, and the Han embroidery of
Wuhan, Hubei Province.
Chinese
Porcelain
& Ceramics:
A
Brief History
Ceramics
began in China 6,000 years ago during the New Stone
Age, whose advent was marked, among other things, by
the invention of pottery. The earliest earthenware was
moulded by hand; the potter's wheel came much later.
At the beginning the clay was fired at a temperature
of some 500-600 c. Painted pottery began to be known
during the period of Yangshao and Longshan cultures.
The
large legion of terra-cotta soldiers and horses of the
Qin Dynasty (221- 207 B.C.), discovered in Shaanxi Province
in 1974, are eloquent proof of the high skills in kiln-firing
and sculpture attained at that early age. The art of
pottery reached another peak of development in the Tang
Dynasty (618 907 A. D.), as evidenced by the renowned
"tri-coloured glaze."
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On
the basis of pottery developed porcelain, which emerged
in China, homeland of the art, 3,000 years ago during
the Shang Dynasty. From the remains of that period at
Sanligang of Zhengzhou and Xiaotun of Anyang (both in
Henan Province) and at Wucheng Village of Qingjiang
County, Jiangxi Province vessels of blue-glazed ware
have been unearthed. Upon examination, they proved to
have been made of kaolin and fired and. vitrified at
the high temperature of 1,200 C. Their surface is coated
with a glaze, whose chemical composition is already
very close to that of their bodies. Certain porcelains
of the Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368 1644) dynasties
were already celadon, though at its early stages.
Chinese
ceramics became known to the world at large from the
Tang Dynasty so much that the word "china"
became the name of porcelain. Chinese porcelain, together
with Chinese tea and silk flowed through the Silk Road
and other land and sea routes to foreign countries.
Jingdezhen
in southern China became a principal centre of the porcelain
industry during the Song Dynasty. Dubbed the "Porcelain
Metropolis," it still boasts important remains
of ancient workshops and kilns.
A
significant archaeological find was made when a porcelain
kiln dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25- 220
A.D.) was brought to light a few years ago at Xiaoxiantan
in Shangyu County, Zhejiang Province. This is the earliest
porcelain-producing site ever discovered in China, and
in the world as a whole.
Rapid
progress has been made in the industry since the founding
of New China by inheriting from, and improving upon,
the past. Ceramics are now produced with renovated techniques
and in ever-growing varieties in many localities, to
the welcome of customers at home and abroad.
In
China, porcelain enjoys a very long history. During
the Shang and Zhou dynasties, ancient earthen wares
were found in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
River and Yellow River. Actual porcelain wares only
starts during the Han Dynasty. As times progress, the
making of porcelain ware improves with new techniques
and creativities, resulting in having different styles
from one period to another period.
During
the Han Dynasty, celadon and black porcelain were mainly
produced. Celadon is a type of grayish-green glaze,
which is like the colour of jade. Developments in the
productions of celadon porcelain continue to carry on
into the later dynasties.
In
the late Tang Dynasty, with the achievement of high
technical method, celadon porcelain was produced in
a large scale. While celadon porcelain was at its peak,
at the same time, pure white porcelain known as Xing
ware, because it was mainly produced at Xing Kiln in
the Province of Hubei. Its porcelain wares when been
tapped gives out sounds like as if a sound from a musical
instrument.
In
the history of Chinese porcelain, the porcelain wares
of the Song Dynasty can be classified as a classic example
of porcelain art in the entire world. Classic, because
Song porcelains have achieved an excellent combination
of shape, glaze and decoration to it's ware. This is
mainly due to the achievement made by the potters during
the Song Dynasty, for having acquired a high command
of skill in the area of making pots, innovative firing
techniques and glaze making.
Many
famous kilns were found at different areas during the
Song Dynasty. Among all the famous kilns, the Ru Kiln,
Jun Kiln, Guan Kiln, Ge Kiln and the Ding Kiln are the
top five most famous kilns.
Creamy
porcelain wares are produced at Ru Kiln. The red of
the rosy porcelain wares produced at Jun Kiln are like
the brilliant sunset glow. Ge Kiln specializes in producing
artificial crackle porcelain wares. Among this three-mentioned
kiln's ware, Ru's wares is the most famous of them.
It
was said that a Ru ware are solely produced for the
imperial court. Ru wares is fine and delicate, it uses
a special glaze with carnelian added to it. Basically,
four kinds of colour glaze are been used in Ru wares;
they are azure, sapphire, moon white and turquoise.
The firing temperature and the glaze prescription are
very difficult to control. With only twenty years of
production, Ru wares are very rare. So rare, that up
to date only seventy pieces of such ware can be found
in the whole world. Therefore, we can say that the techniques
applied in the production of porcelain wares during
the Song Dynasty have reached its greatest height.
During
the Yuan Dynasty, the porcelain industry continued with
its rapid development. Blue and white porcelain of the
Tang and Song dynasties, continues into the Yuan Dynasty,
by using the traditional techniques maybe with some
difference in design like painting are being applied.
Firstly,
the blue and white porcelain ware was painted with a
strong blue under the transparent glaze. This resulted
in the colour been perfectly protected by the layer
of hard glaze, enabling it to be lasting and well preserved.
Among those kilns at that time, the kilns in Jingdezhen
has made a technical breakthrough by remodeling the
material combination and make improvement to the firing
temperature, hence facilitated the production of large
porcelain wares.
Secondly,
in Yuan Blue and White wares we may find some uncustomary
Chinese design, it is full of decoration, brightly coloured
together with combination of some uncustomary Chinese
shape and decorative Chinese motifs. During the Yuan
Dynasty, under glaze-blue and the under glaze-red was
used for decoration. The decoration is very pictorial.
Thirdly,
before the Yuan Dynasty there was very little colour
choice. Great achievement was made in the produce of
coloured glaze.
In
the Ming Dynasty, blue and white porcelain wares are
the chief porcelain products. During the reign of Emperor
Yongle, Xuande and Chenghua, blue and white porcelain
ware enters into its golden era. Emperor Yongle and
Xuande reigns' porcelain has features of delicate and
thick glaze, various design and pattern, and with plenty
of model. As for those porcelain wares under Emperor
Chenghua reigns, it is also delicate but lighter in
colour with Chinese ink and washed painting incorporated
onto it. During the late Ming Dynasty, under the reigns
of Emperor Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli, the blue and
white porcelain received great popularity.
In
the Qing Dynasty, the blue and white porcelain made
great advances and created a worldwide interest. Among
the Qing porcelain wares, those produced under the reigns
of Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong are the most
famous.
Porcelain
of Jingdezhen
Jingdezhen,
formerly spelt Ching The Chen and known as the "Ceramics
Metropolis" of China, is a synonym for Chinese
porcelain.
Variably
called Xinping or Changnanzhen in history, it is situated
in the northeastern part of Jiangxi province in a small
basin rich in fine kaolin, hemmed in by mountains which
keep it supplied with firewood from their conifers.
People there began to produce ceramics as early as 1,800
years ago in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Jingde
Period(1004-1007), emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty
decreed that Changnanzhen should produce the porcelain
used by the imperial court, with each inscribed at the
bottom "made in the reign of Jingde.: From then
on people began to call all chinaware bearing such in
scriptions "porcelain of Jingdezhen".
The
ceramic industry experienced further development at
Jingdezhen during the Ming and Qing dynasties or from
the 14th to the 19th century, when skills became perfected
and the general quality more refined; government kilns
were set up to cater exclusively to the need of the
imperial house.
Jingdezhen,
the ancient ceramics metropolis, has been regenerated
with new vigor since the founding of New China. It now
boasts a ceramic research institute and a ceramic museum
in addition to five kaolin quarries, 15 porcelain factories,
two porcelain machinery plants, one porcelain chemical
plant, two refractory materials factories and dozens
of porcelain processing works.
The
leading center of the porcelain industry, Jingdezhen
has been put under state protection also as an important
historical city. With 133 ancient buildings and cultural
sites, it is a tourist town attracting large numbers
of visitors from home and abroad.
Cloisonne
Cloisonne
is a unique art form that originated in Beijing during
the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368). Cloisonne, in which
China excels, is known as jingtailan in the country.
It first appeared toward the end of the Yuan Dynasty
in the mid-14th century, flourished and reached its
peak of development during the reign of the Ming Emperor
jingtai(1450-1457). And as the objects were mostly in
blue(lan) colour, cloisonné came to be called
by its present name Jingtailan.
A
Jingtailan article has a copper body. The design on
it is formed by copper wire stuck on with a vegetable
glue. Coloured enamel is filled in with different colours
kep apart by the wire strips. After being fired four
or five times in a kiln, the workpiece is polished and
gilded into a colourful and luxtrous work of art. During
the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), cloisonneware was mainly
supplied for use in the imperial palace, in the form
of incense-burners, vases, jars, boxes and candlesticks-all
in imitation of antique porcelain and bronze. Present-day
production, with Beijing as the leading center,stresses
the adding of ornamental beauty to things that are useful.
The artifacts include vases, plates, jars,boxes, tea
sets, lamps, lanterns, tables, stools, drinking vessels
and small articles for the desk. A pair of big cloisonné
horses have been made in recent years, each measuring
2.1 metres high and 2.4 metres long, and weighing about
700 kilograms. They took eight months to finish, involving
the labour of hundreds of workers and 60 tons of coal
for the firing. They represent the largest object even
made in cloisonné in the 500 years since the
art was born. Cloisonne ware bears on the surface vitreous
enamal which, like porcelain, is hard but brittle, so
it must not be knocked against anything hard. To remove
dust from it, it should be whisked lightly with a soft
cloth. Avoid heavy wiping with a wet cloth, for this
might eventually wear off the gilding.
During
the reigns of Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong of the Qing
Dynasty (1644 - 1911), cloisonne improved and reached
its artistic summit. Colors were more delicate, filigrees
more flexible and fluent, and scope was enlarged beyond
the sacrifice-process wares into snuff bottles, folding
screens, incense burners, tables, chairs, chopsticks,
and bowls.
Cloisonne
manufacture is comprehensive and sophisticated, combining
the techniques of making bronze and porcelain ware,
as well as those of traditional painting and sculpture:
click to view more about Cloisonne manufacturing.
Celadon
Celadon,
a famous type of ancient Chinese stoneware, came into
being during the period of the Five Dynasties(907-960).
It is characterized by simple but refined shapes, jade-like
glaze, solid substance and a distinctive style. As the
celadonware produced in Longquan County. Zhejiang Province,
is most valued, so it is also generally called Longquan
qingci. Its Chinese name, qingci, means "greenish
porcelain". Why then is it known in the West as
'celadon". Celadon was the hero of the French writer
Honore Urfe's romance L' Astree(1610) the lover of the
heroine Astree. He was represented as a young man in
green and his dress became all the rage in Europe. And
it was just about this time that the Chinese Qingci
made its debut in Paris and won acclaim. People compared
its colour to Celadon's suit and started to call the
porcelain " celadon", a name which has stuck
and spread to other countries. Now, new products of
Longquan qingci have been developed to radiate with
fresh luster; they include eggshell china and underglazed
painting.
Neolithic
Bronze
Chinese started to cast bronze wares about 5,000 years
ago. However, bronze vessels were commonly used till
the Shang and Zhou dynasties by aristocrats in daily
life and ancestral rituals. Thus, the Shang and Zhou
bronze vessels were the most highly esteemed objects
of their time.
The ancients believed that their deceased
ancestors would intercede on behalf of the living, provided
they were honored and respected. The bronze vessels
were kept in ancestral halls and used during a variety
of feasts and banquets.
Most bronze vessels were used for cooking
food or to heat a millet wine. However, certain huge
vessels usually symbolized power and status. For example,
Ding, a tripod caldron, some having 4 legs, was originally
cooking vessel and ritual vessel inscribed with memorial
address, and gradually transferred into a symbol of
state and power.
Owing to their importance, bronze wares
exemplified the most advanced technical and artistic
developments. Early bronze vessels, including Jue (wine
goblet), Zhi (wine goblet), Zun (wine beaker) and Ku
(wine goblet beaker) except Ding, were the most advanced
developments in shape and decoration up to that point
in world history.
In 1976, at Anyang in Henan province,
capital of the Shang dynasty, archaeologists uncovered
a Shang tomb, the burying chamber of Fuhao who was Emperor
Wuding's consort and a female general who leaded troops
and helped her husband in wars. The tomb was the only
Shang imperial tomb found intact. Many bronze vessels
were found, including those she used before and those
specially cast as her burial vessels.
Many famous Shang bronze vessels currently
displayed around the world are all the legacy of Fuhao's
grave. Most of the Shang vessels are shaped into animals
and decorated with motifs of Taotie, a kind of legendary
vicious beast and other zoomorphic designs.
The Bronze Tripod or Cauldron
The bronze ding, a cooking utensil in
remote times, was used like a cauldron for boiling fish
and meat. At first, about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago,
the ding was made of fired clay,usually with three legs,
occasionally with four that is why it is loosely referred
to as "tripod" in English. It stands steadily
and has a nice shape.
With the advent of the slavery system,
China entered the bronze age, and the earthern ding
was gradually replaced by the bronze one. In time, it
assumed the role of an important sacrificial vessel
used by the slave-owning aristocrats at ceremonies of
worship.
Leading among the bronze ding that have
been discovered to date, and by far the largest, is
the "Si Mu Wu" ding which dates to the late
Shang Dynasty (c.17th to 11th Century B.C.). Weighing
875 kilograms, it is 133 centimeters high and rectangular
in shape, standing on four legs. It was made for the
King of Shang to offer sacrifices to his dead mother
Wu. Exquisitely cast, it is considered a rare masterpiece
of the bronze culture the world over. The ding of this
historical period have a unique shape and are often
decorated with patterns of animal masks and other distinctive
features characteristic of animal masks and other distinctive
features characteristic of the period. They are important
material objects for the study of the ancient society
concerned. Towards the end of the slave society, the
ding became a vessel which, by its size and numbers,
indicated the power and status of its aristocrat owner.
At rites, the status of its aristocrat owner. At rites,
the emperor used a series of 9 ding, the dukes and barons
7, senior officials 5, and scholarly gentlemen 3. From
the number of ding yielded by an ancient tomb, one can
tell the status of its dead occupant.
Today visitors to palaces, imperial gardens and temples
of the Ming and Qing courts can still see beautiful
arrays of bronze tripods which were, in their time,
both decorations and status symbols. In the periods
when Buddhism was the predominant faith in the country,
the ding was also used as a religious incense-burner.
Such burners, made of bronze, iron or stone in various
sizes, can still be seen in many old temples. In Yonghegong,
the famous Beijing lamasery, there is a large bronze
ding with an overall heigh of 4.2 meters, cast with
the inscription "made in the 12th year of Qianlong(1747).
It was in this ding that Qing Emperors, which they went
to the temple for worship, were believed to have offered
bundles of burning joss sticks.
Bronze tripods and cauldrons have always
fascinated people with their heirachical associations
and their simple but stately forms. So there has always
been a thriving craft devoted to the making of copies
or imitations of them. Normally they are miniatures
for table-top decoration often made of other materials
such as jade, agate, lacquer and so on. They represent
an important branch of Chinese arts and crafts.
Musical Bells and Chime Stones
These are percussion musical instruments unique to ancient
China. The zhong are made of bronze while the qing generally
of stone. They may be played either individually or
in groups. In the latter case, they are hung in rows
on wooden racks and known respectively as bianzhong
and bianqing. Struck with wooden hammers, they produce
melodious sounds of various notes. In their time, they
were the important instruments played-either in solo
performance or in ensemble or as accompaniment-during
imperial audiences, palace banquets and religious ceremonies.
1. Stone and Jade Qing
It can be easily imagined that the stone qing must have
been one of the earliest musical instruments in China.
During the Stone Age, the Chinese forefathers, working
with stone implements, founds out that certain sonorous
rocks, when knocked, produced musical sounds and that,
by knocking at rocks of different sizes, they could
make music. So the earliest sizes, they could make music.
So the earliest man-made chime stones were born out
of those natural rocks. In 1973 a Shang Dynasty(c.17th-11th
century B.C.) chime stone was discovered from the ruins
of that age in Anyang, Henan province. It is grey-coloured
and has tiger patterns engraved on it, showing that
it had been used by the imperial court.
The key step in the making of a chime
stone is to give it the right note. Artisans learned
long ago how to achieve this. If the pitch of a Stone
was too high, they would grind the two flat faces of
the slab, making it thinner if the pitch was on the
low side, they would grind the ends and make the slab
shorter, until the right tone was arrived at.
The jade qing was made much later, following
the same idea as for chime stone but using the more
valuable jade as the material. In the hall of Treasures
of the forbidden City can be seen a chime consisting
of 12 iade qing. They were made during the reign of
Qianlong(1736-1795) of a previous black jade exquisitely
finished on both sides with gold-painted dragons playing
with balls. It is said that the twelve were chosen out
of 160 pieces made at the time by the jade carvers of
Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, involving 90,000 workdays
and untold costs.
2. Chime of Bells Bianzhong
To make the chime of bells, an important metal instrument
in ancient times, bronze was invariably used for the
best acoustic effect. Early bells are called yongzhong,
rather flat in shape and very much like two concave
tiles joined face to face. Later, however, people stressed
the beauty of their shape and gave them a more and more
round body, at the expense of the tonal qualities.
It seems that there was fixed number
of bells for each chime. Judging by those unearthed
to date, a chime may be very simple, consisting of 3,6
or 9 bells, or very complicated, with 13,14,16 or as
many as 36 bells.
The most elaborate ancient bianzhong,
a set of 65 bells, was unearthed in 1978 in Suixian
County, Hubei Province, from the tomb of the Marquis
of Zeng dating from the Warring States Period(475-221
B.C.). Their total weight is over 2,500 kilograms, and
they were found hung on a three-tiered rack. The biggest
of the bells has an overall heigh of 153.4 centimetres
and a weight of 203.6 kilograms. The whole chime, unprecedented
discovery in the history of musical instrument ever
brough to light-not only in China but in the world as
a whole.
Although buried underground for over
2,400 years, the bells still produce fine tones. Ancient
and modern music, including tunes from Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony, revived ancient tunes of the Tang Dynasty
and them tunes of modern Chinese Operas, has been played
on them with satisfying results.
Careful study of the bells has revealed
that they were cast according to the 7 tone scale with
5 semitones in between, completing a well-integrated
system of 12 tones. The scale of the whole chime agrees
with the modern 7-tone scale in C major, and its range
covers 5 octaves, just two octaves less than the modern
piano. What is more amazing, each bell can produce two
different tones, a unique feature in percussion imstruments.
An inscription of 2,500 characters engraved
on the bells tells of the musical theories and the names
of the tones prevalent at the time as well as the positions
where the tones can be produced. The unearthing of this
set of bells has proved beyond all doubt the application
of the twelve-tone equal temperament in Chinese music
as early as the 5th century B.C., providing one more
evidence of the antiquity of the Chinese Civilization.
The 65-bell bianzhong can be seen at
the Provincial Museum of Hubei in the Central China
city of Wuhan.
Another bianzhong worth seeing is one
of 16 bells made of pure gold during the Qianlong period
in the 18th century, now displayed in the Forbidden
City's Hall of Treasures. Cast in unique forms and about
the same size, the 16 bells are of a uniform height
of 23.8 cenimetres, but their weight ranges from 4,703
to 14,316 grams. Round in shape, they produce a rather
than monotonous ring, but they were meant during the
heyday of the Qing Dynasty, to impress viewers with
the wealth and extravagance of the imperial house. And
they are indeed very much valued being cast in dazzling
gold and engraved with lively patterns of ball-playing
dragons.
Bronze Ware
The bronze ware were unique national treasures for China
n ancient times for their impressive designs, classical
decorative ornamentation, and wealth of inscriptions.
The ancient Chinese society fell into the Stone Tool
Age and the Iron tool age. The earliest stoneware in
China was found in 3000 B.C. The Shang and Zhou dynasties
ushered China into the height of the Bronze Age. During
this period the making of bronze ware reached its zenith.
After the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods
China entered the Iron Tool Age.
Bronze is the alloy of cooper and zinc
or copper and lead that is bluish grey. The museums
across China and some important museums outside China,
have all collected Chinese Bronze ware dating back to
the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Some of them are part
of the cultural heritage passed down through the generations,
but most of them were dug up from underneath the earth.
Ancient Chinese Bronze ware fall into three types: ritual
vessels, weapons, and miscellaneous objects. Ritual
vessels refer to those objects employed by aristocrats
in sacrificial ceremonies or audiences. Therefore there
is something distinctively religious and shamanist about
them. These vessels include food containers, wine vessels,
water pot and musical instruments. Bronze weapons come
in such varieties as knife, sword, spear, halberd, axe,
and dagger. The miscellaneous objects refer to bronze
utensils for daily use.
In ancient China the making of bronze
ware was dominated by the imperial families and aristocrats.
And the possession of such wares was regarded as a status
symbol. In comparison with counterparts in other parts
of the world, the Chinese Bronze ware stand out for
their inscriptions which are regarded as major chapters
in the Chinese history of calligraphy.
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