Chapter 6 Section 3 Works in the Borderlands with Unique Style

The northern grassland region, southwest region, and southern Vietnam region were at the junction of several cultures during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Han Dynasty. Their artworks not only showed diversity, but also had strong locality and high artistic quality. The steppe region of northern China is the eastern part of the Eurasian steppe.The inhabitants of this area are mainly nomadic peoples.These peoples are the carriers of the migration culture in the Eurasian steppe.Thus their culture is characterized by a mixture of diversity.During the Qin and Han Dynasties, several nomadic tribes such as the Donghu, Xiongnu, and Xianbei in the northern grasslands successively established a regime with powerful military power, and their influence reached as far as Central Asia.The royal courts of these regimes were built in present-day Inner Mongolia. While their military operations often penetrated into the hinterland of China, they also absorbed a large amount of Chinese culture.The sculptures of these ethnic groups are most distinctive in various bronze decorations suitable for nomadic life.One of the biggest features of these bronze decorations is their compact structure.Whether it is a shape or a scene, they are all compressed on a small bronze medal through deformation.These bronze medals seem to be full of a kind of accumulated force, which causes the volume of the small bronze medals to expand and expand.Some openwork decorations, such as a series of paper-cuts, are connected and complement each other, making them vivid and imaginative, with just the right amount of exaggeration.Those horses, cows, camels, sheep, bears, wolves and other animals and the scenes of hunters hunting are full of grassland atmosphere.And those images of dragons and phoenixes show the connection with the Central Plains.

The Dian people are an ancient ethnic group living in Yunnan Province in ancient times.In the past 50 years, cultural relics have been unearthed one after another, which shows that the Southwest Yi culture represented by the Dian people culture in the Dianchi Lake area in the Qin and Han Dynasties has entered the heyday of bronze culture.On the basis of spreading the local Pu (ancient family name, distributed in the south of Jianghan during the Yin and Zhou Dynasties) culture, the Dian people absorbed a variety of foreign cultures, such as Chu, the Central Plains, and even the cultural elements of Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Thus forming its own unique regional art style.Since the discovery of the tombs of the Dian people in Shizhai Mountain, Jinning, Yunnan in 1955, dozens of tombs of the same cultural nature as Shizhai Mountain have been discovered in counties around Dianchi Lake for decades, including the abundant unearthed tombs. Jiangchuan Lijiashan Tombs.The bronze art of Yunnan people, represented by Shizhai Mountain and Lijia Mountain, actually refers to bronze sculptures, mainly including bronze figurines, bronze accessories, round sculptures and reliefs attached to bronze objects (such as production and living utensils, weapons, shell storage utensils, etc.) , gourd sheng, chime bells and other utensils are decorated with sculptures).These works are extremely rich in content and diverse in subject matter, covering a wide range of political, military, economic, cultural, and religious aspects at that time.Therefore, it is well-deserved to call the bronze art of the Dian people in Shizhai Mountain, Lijia Mountain and other places as the history books on bronze wares.As far as the artistic modeling of Dian bronze sculptures is concerned, they can be briefly classified into three categories: narrative, expressive and symbolic.The narrative category is mainly the group sculptures on the cover of the shell container and some buckles that reflect scenes such as cursing alliances, paying tribute, offering captives, sacrifices, wars, weaving, going to the market, sowing, breeding, stocking, plundering cattle, music and dancing, etc. , as well as round sculptures and reliefs of hunting and racing scenes on some bronze drums.These sculptures reflect the events that were happening at that time on various levels.Looking at these sculptures is like reading a local chronicle. The main life and customs of the ancient Dian people are vividly remembered.For example, the Curse League group sculpture in "Curse League Shell Container" has as many as 127 people, with a dry platform as the center, on which sit the leader of the alliance and the leaders of various tribes. The leader of the alliance is a woman, tall and full body. gilt.There are more than a dozen bronze drums placed in front of and on both sides of the platform. Around the platform are members of various tribes participating in this activity, as well as tigers and peacocks.As the main ceremony of the oath alliance, killing people is sacrificed, so in this scene, there are also copper pillars with coiled snakes swallowing people and naked men bound to be killed.This group of sculptures shows the scale, method, environment setting and many specific plots of the Dian people's curse alliance.By analyzing these plots, we can further understand the Dian people's society.If the leader of the alliance is a woman, it can be seen that the Dian people are still under the remaining matriarchal system.Through the confirmation of the plots on the lids of other shell storage containers, it can be known that the Yunnan people generally have the backward custom of killing people and offering sacrifices, and so on.Others, such as the hairstyle, clothing and utensils of the Dian people, can also be known through these artistic images.Another example is "Storage of Shells for Paying Tributes" faithfully showing the scene of the tribute teams of seven tribes paying tribute to the King of Dian; Small copper ornaments such as "Bronze Buckle Decoration for Three Persons Binding Cows", etc., vividly reflect the ancient social customs of the Dian people who count their wealth on livestock.The expressive category is mainly those bronze medals (button decorations) that are extremely sporty, plot and confrontational.In order to convey a strong emotion in these works, animals or people are often slightly deformed on the basis of realism, making the sculptures very vivid.Especially those fights between humans and animals, and between animals, are the most thrilling and full of physical confrontation.The language of these sculptures is clear, vividly expressing the entanglement between life and death, and the conflict between stop and go.Undoubtedly, what is most expressed about the animal world are those scenes where the weak prey on the strong and the trapped animals are still fighting.Representative works such as "Two Wolves Eat a Deer Bronze Buckle", "Two Tigers Eat a Pig Bronze Buckle", "Eight People Hunt a Tiger Bronze Buckle" and so on.By unfolding the plot in motion, these works portray the animal expression in the climax of the life-and-death struggle, making all such wild works full of irresistible passion for life and pervading a thrilling atmosphere. (Figure 7) There are also some works with vivid and interesting shapes.Such as showing the plot of a leopard and a wild boar in a hostile confrontation; showing a monkey screaming at the side when a bear and a tiger are fighting; showing a proud peacock walking leisurely in the forest. scenario, and so on.The symbolic category is mainly some utensils related to sacrifices.Starting from images, these works contain or strengthen a certain meaning.For example, the well-known "Ox and Tiger Bronze Sacrifice Altar" takes a vigorous zebu as the basic shape, skillfully uses the wide and thick back of the ox as an oval plane sacrificial altar, and the limbs of the ox naturally become the four legs of the altar.In order to balance the large and heavy head, neck, and chest of the cow, a small tiger is designed on the back of the cow to bite the tail of the cow, which makes this work in a superior position in the distribution of visual and practical power. A state of balance.From the current archaeological materials, there is no evidence of cattle farming by the Dian people.However, the image of cattle frequently appears in bronze castings, and some even appear in the form of pure bull heads, which shows that cattle may be the most important sacrificial object in Dian people's society.The cow in this sacrificial altar has two "jobs": it is both a burden animal and a victim.From the comparison of the images of tiger and ox to the grasp of the balance of the whole utensil, it proves that "Bull and Tiger Bronze Sacrifice Table" is an outstanding and successful work of art.Compared with the bronze art of the Central Plains, which mostly uses abstract patterns, the bronze art of the Dian people mostly uses realistic techniques, recreating life with the images of humans and animals.These casting arts more freely and fully affirmed the original form of the object, and shocked every person standing in front of them with a strong intuitive effect.It must be admitted that the religious sacrifices in the culture of the Dian people do not have the slightest sense of tranquility.In all the visual images, the "human sacrifice" is almost always "walking" towards the altar under the force of violence.This wild and unsophisticated cultural atmosphere effectively strengthens the emotional color of the bronze casting art of the Dian people.In the bronze casting with animals as the motif, the call of the wild throughout is more an expression of the true feelings of the Yunnan people and the pursuit of a certain religious connotation.The ancient Dianchi region has a warm climate, high mountains and dense forests. Part of the reason for the primitive wildness and calling echoed in the bronze art of the Dian nationality should also be attributed to the perennial, warm and exuberant breath of life blown by nature.

In terms of cultural diversity, there is nothing better than the bronze drum.This utensil, which was invented by the Pu people, incorporated the contents of various cultures such as Dian, Yelang, Nanyue, Chu, and Central Plains during the development process, and spread to Southeast Asia, where it was also integrated into the cultural contents of the local ethnic groups.These cultural contents are all expressed on the bronze drums in the form of relief or line engraving.For example, traces of various cultures can be found in the decorations such as Xianglu, Jingdu, Yuren, and Yunlei.The main ornamentation of the bronze drum is the relief of the sun in the center of the drum surface. This radiant image may have recorded the worship of the sun since ancient times.At the same time, the artistic effect of this kind of decoration is also strong. The radial pattern gives people the feeling of expanding to infinite space.

Known as one of the major archaeological achievements in the past 40 years, the discovery of Sanxingdui bronzes in Guanghan, Sichuan has rewritten the entire history of Chinese sculpture, and at the same time provided evidence for the establishment of Bashu culture. From July to September 1986, more than 500 bronze sculptures were unearthed in two sacrificial pits in Sanxingdui, among which bronze human heads, standing statues, kneeling statues and masks are the most characteristic of Bashu culture.The significance of the discovery and identification of the Sanxingdui Bronze Series portrait sculptures has at least three aspects. (1) Once again confirmed that the main function of portrait sculptures from the primitive society to the three generations (Xia, Shang and Zhou) was used for sacrifices; (2) It was the first time to use image materials to represent characters with different social identities, which will undoubtedly It has the effect of drawing inferences about the social relations in the Bashu area during the Shang and Zhou dynasties; (3) From the perspective of art history, it fills the gap from the primitive society to the Qin and Han Dynasties.Between the pottery statues of Hongshan Culture and the Qin Terracotta Warriors, the Sanxingdui bronze statues not only provide a coherent clue to the development of portrait sculpture art in the three important historical periods of primitive society, Xia, Shang and Zhou, and Qin and Han Dynasties, but also provide a clue to the development of portrait sculptures in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. Styling abilities take on a whole new perspective.The study of Sanxingdui bronze portrait sculptures using a large number of techniques such as block, facet, line and plastic, realism and absurdity, large volume and miniature, etc., can directly enrich the knowledge and understanding of the sculptures of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States and even the Qin and Han Dynasties; , The expression techniques of pottery sculpture have a link of succession.The bronze portraits and bronze masks in Sanxingdui truly express their charm to people with the volumetric language of sculpture.With their huge size and numerous numbers, they strongly impact people's hearts, making the viewers feel uneasy and full of imagination.For example, the largest bronze statue is 2.6 meters high, and the portrait is 1.7 meters high. Wearing a high crown and Chinese clothes, he stands barefoot on the platform with the dragon pattern on the elephant trunk. Great power and power.From the perspective of artistic techniques, the bronze sculptures of Sanxingdui have been refined and deformed on the basis of realism.These techniques are most evident on the numerous bronze masks.The Sanxingdui bronze masks vary in size, the largest one is 1.38 meters wide and 0.65 meters high, and the smallest one is only 0.092 meters high.These masks are not used for wearing by real people but for hanging or fixing on some idol or utensil, so there is no need to leave holes or holes for viewing and venting, which is undoubtedly more conducive to maintaining the integrity of the casting of the mask; Because it is not restricted by the prototype of the face of a real person, it is also more conducive to the creation and display of art.These masks can be roughly divided into two types of art, generalized and grotesque.The generalization is basically faithful to the face of the real person, but it is not restricted by the face of the real person in the artistic processing, but is divided into blocks according to the needs of art, with accurate generalization, concise techniques, and vigorous modeling.Weird styles are works that are bold, exaggerated, and strongly deformed.The representative one is the largest mask: the big mouth baring teeth is like a circular arc reaching to the cheekbones; the eyebrows are wide; the eyes are elongated from the bridge of the nose to the hairline; the ears are elongated like deer ears; the bridge of the nose is like a hook ; Such as cirrus-style nose and so on.But the weirdest thing is the two protruding pupils, which protrude about 30 centimeters like columns.In addition to this mask, an independent giant eye composed of two triangular copper blocks was later found in Sanxingdui. In this weird style, with a kind of mystery and grotesque, people have to return from reality to ancient times. in the mist.According to experts in the archaeological field, these bronze statues and masks from the Shang Dynasty to the early Western Zhou Dynasty were found to have traces of fire when they were unearthed; on top of them, a layer of ivory or five-colored soil was covered.This shows that these bronze sculptures were sacrificial supplies for the ancient Bashu people.From this, it can be imagined that the sacrificial scenes arranged by the residents of Bashu thousands of years ago with these huge bronze sculptures must be spectacular.Coupled with the flickering fire and the lingering smoke during the burning ceremony, what a sacred and mysterious scene it is!