Chapter 3 Section 2 The Art of Calligraphy in the Western Zhou Dynasty

According to records, at the time of King Xuan of Zhou in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, there was a Taishi named "Zhen", who had written 15 chapters in seal script, which were used as literacy textbooks for Meng children.Therefore, in history, this kind of seal script was called "籀文", "Historical Book" and so on.Regrettably, six chapters of this book were lost in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and then gradually all of them were lost.In other words, some glyphs are preserved in Xu Shen's "Shuowen", but it is not sure whether they are original or not. Fortunately, bamboo and silk are easily lost, but Jijinshouyong, the writings of the Western Zhou Dynasty rely on the ancient objects of the time-bronze tripod and Yi vessels, and there are still a lot of them, that is, the famous "Bronze Inscriptions", which can be used for us to study the history of this era. calligraphy.

Bronze inscriptions are characters engraved on bronze wares during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In ancient times, copper was called gold, so it was called "Jinwen". There are many types of bronze wares, such as food utensils, musical instruments, weights of power, coins, seals, clothing and imperial vessels, weapons, etc., all of which can have writing on them.At that time, musical instruments were represented by bells, and food utensils were represented by tripods, so this kind of writing was also called "Zhong Ding Wen". The Western Zhou Dynasty was the prosperous period of ancient civilization in our country, which made greater progress than the culture of the Shang Dynasty.Inscriptions were engraved and cast on the bronzes. The Shang Dynasty had already opened its end, and it took two weeks to flourish.Bronze inscriptions reflect an aspect of the culture of this period, and it was here that Ding Yi was regarded as the important weapon of the country and the symbol of the founding of the country.It is of course very solemn and solemn to engrave and cast characters on these heavy vessels.Not only did the master writers at that time have to write their own pens, but also the carving and casting must be done carefully, so the artistic expression of bronze inscriptions is much higher than that of oracle bone inscriptions.Comparing the arrangement of bronze inscriptions and oracle bone inscriptions, we can see that there is no fundamental difference between oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions in the philological sense. However, the differences in engraving and casting methods, materials, subjective intentions, etc. give bronze inscriptions a unique aesthetic feature: ancient, clumsy, Solemn, lush, with considerable artistic charm.

From the early Zhou Dynasty to the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the social atmosphere, technical conditions, and aesthetic tastes were constantly changing, and the bronze inscriptions also reflected a clear evolutionary track.Probably in the early period, it was quite similar to the oracle bones and bronze inscriptions of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. The stippling is sharp and vigorous, the style is simple and solemn, the plots are scattered, and the shapes are given according to the characters. They do not insist on unity, so they are lively and aura.After Chengkang, entering the middle period, the stippling is round, the bones are restrained, the body is graceful, and the chapters are clean, showing a solemn and solemn temple style.In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the royal power gradually declined, the feudal lords acted in their own way, the role of regional factors gradually became apparent, and the style of calligraphy began to be clearly differentiated.Or grand and dignified, lofty and dignified, more brilliant, such as "Mao Gong Ding"; or simple and sparse, strange and moving, showing regional customs, such as "Sanshi Pan"; , such as "Guo Ji Zi Bai Pan".It can be said that each is good at winning.

Bronze inscriptions belong to the big seal script, whether dignified and ancient, or sparse and elegant, they all have a solemn and honest air.This kind of breath should be said to be an extremely precious, classical and elegant charm in calligraphy art, which is the origin of the "golden and stone breath" of calligraphy art in later generations.