The designs of motifs and patterns constitute
a principle part of bronze art, for they mirror the spirit of the Bronze Age
vividly and comprehensively. The motifs are numerous, but the bronzes of the early
Shang and middle and late Western Zhou are dominated by designs of animals,
especially imaginary animals, such as the taotie,
kui dragon and phoenix, which
are regarded as representative of bronze design. Bronze designs are derived and
developed from pottery designs, but the two differ in basic aesthetic style.
Pottery designs are mostly geometric patterns, but the animal motifs on some
pottery are real animals such as fish, birds, frogs, pigs, dogs, deer and
geckos.
Totemic Symbols
A
very salient feature in bronze decoration is the images of weird animals. Among
them are the dragon, phoenix and unicorn which are worshipped by the Chinese
nation as sacred and auspicious creatures. Why did our ancestors create such
images? What are their implications? To answer this question, we have to go
back to primitive society. The Bronze Age was the earliest stage of
civilization. The image of weird animals are obviously a legacy of primitive
society, where they were widely used as totems in the worship of nature. A
totem was believed to possess extraordinary power. As such, people feared,
worshipped and relied on it.
The Deified Dragon
The
dragon motif is regarded as the most auspicious and sacred by the Chinese. The
image of the dragon appeared long before the Bronze Age. As early as the
Neolithic Age, an image resembling a lizard or a gecko came into existence.
This was the dragon in its embryonic form. Designs of this form were found on
the pottery of Yangshao culture unearthed at Xiping, Wushan ,
Gansu Province and Miaodigou, Shanxian, Henan Province
There
are several dragons on bronzes. The most common one is the crawling dragon pattern (below),
in which the creature looks most vivacious, with an open mouth, bulging eyes,
claws and an upturned tail.
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Crawling dragons |
The
kui motif is very similar to the dragon motif. Many scholars regard the kui
as a variant of the dragon. Like the dragon motif, the kui motif shows a
mythological creature with parts of several animals. Some variants of the kui
motif delineate a bird-like head with a curved, pointed bill, a body that is
shorter and sturdier than that of the dragon, and feet that are like the hoofs
of a beast rather than the talons of an eagle. In short, it looks like a
ferocious beast. According to Chinese mythology, the dragon is mainly derived
from reptiles, including the snake, lizard and crocodile. Since the snake was
the prototype of the dragon, there was a theory in ancient China
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Variations of the kui-dragon motif |
The Auspicious Phoenix
The phoenix motif is the most elegant and beautiful of
bronze designs. Its embryonic form can be found in the pottery of primitive
society, but, like the dragon motif, it was not until the Bronze Age that the
phoenix motif was largely finalized. Though the motif continued to be enriched
and improved and became more varied after the Zhou Dynasty, its basic form
remained the same as that on Shang-Zhou bronzes.
There
are two basic forms of the phoenix motif on Shang bronzes. One is more like the
swallow painted on the pottery of primitive society. It has a round head with a
streamer-like plume on its back and a hooked bill. Its body and tail are just
the same as those of an ordinary bird (Below:
Fig 1). The other form has a body resembling that of a snake or beast
rather than a bird (Below: Fig 2).
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Fig 1: Phoenix crowned with a plume
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Of
these two forms, the former has the simple, clear quality of primitive, painted
pottery and an archaic naivety. The latter, having been absorbed into
Shang-Zhou bronze designs, is a little awe-inspiring, though far from being as
mystic and terrorizing as the taotie and kui-dragon motifs. The
phoenix motif of the Western Zhou is much more graceful. Its head is crowned
with several plumes floating in the air like so many streamers. Its tail
feathers are like those of the peacock when they are spread out, showing a
beautiful pattern (below).
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Phoenix crowned with several plumes |
Like
the dragon, the phoenix is a creature of the imagination of ancient people, a
mythological bird combining the features of several animals. The phoenix,
second only to the dragon in status, served as a totem in remote antiquity. Its
origins can be traced to the swallow, which was the totem of the Eastern Yi tribe, one of the three leading tribes in
ancient times, the other two being the Huangdi (Yellow Emperor) and Yandi
tribes. The Eastern Yi tribe lived mainly in southeastern China
Because
the Shang people were descendents of the Yin tribe, (which mainly inherited the
Eastern Yi culture) the image of the phoenix
held an important place in Shang culture. And since the rites of the Zhou
followed those of the Shang, it was believed that the rise of the Western Zhou
had something to do with the phoenix. The image of the phoenix therefore became
more prominent and abundant in Western Zhou bronze designs. While the dragon connotes religious dignity
and the majesty of royal power, the phoenix is like a goddess bestowing peace,
beauty and happiness on humans.
Beautifying through decoration
Bronze
designs served more than religious functions. The elaborate decorations made by
artists in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties suggest the pursuit of beauty.
In other words, bronze artists created images quite conscientiously in
accordance with aesthetic standards.
The
cloud-and-thunder design is abstract and geometric. The cloud design (Below: Fig 1) contains a few cloud-like lines,
congregating and scattering. However, the thunder design has nothing to do with
thunder at all. Thunder is audible but not visible. Since the thunder design is
composed of several curving lines, it is probably the result of comparing the
rolling of thunder to the rolling of wheels, yet only a few thunder designs
look like wheels (Below: Fig 2).
Thunder-and-cloud design, the most basic geometrical design on bronzes, often
served as a background design.
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Fig 1: Cloud Design |
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Fig 2: Thunder Design |
Composition
and Layout
The
sense of rhythm in bronze decoration results from strict composition and layout.
The composition of bronze decoration falls into two categories: pictorial and relief. In pictorial
composition, each decoration is like a picture, with a strong sense of plane.
The composition can be subdivided into four different patterns:
- Composition
in rows
One or several patterns used as different
units are connected in order to form a strip-like pattern. Fig 1 shows a strip
of phoenixes forming a unit. Fig 2 is a variation of this pattern. The
alternation of fire and kui-dragon patterns endows the design with a
sense of movement and gives a stronger feel of rhythm to the pattern. Patterns
in rows are generally used on the neck and ring foot of bronze-ware. As they
contain a fairly strong sense of rhythm and regularity, the designs permeate
the various complicated decorations on bronze-ware.
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Fig 1: Composition in rows
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B. Symmetrical
composition
This composition
must have an axis, which is, in reality, either existent or non-existent and
may be part of the motif, such as the bridge of the nose of a taotie
motif or the folding rim and ridge of a vessel. The motifs on each side of the
axis are similar in configuration but opposing in direction (below). Symmetrical composition
attributes its aesthetic effect to the well-balanced designs, arousing a sense
of beauty through sedateness, good arrangement and balance.
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Symmetrical Composition |
- Net
composition
This consists of
fine and elaborate decoration (below),
customarily covering most of the surface of bronze-ware. The commonly used
designs are coiled serpents, and thunder and clouds.
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Net composition |
- Loose
composition
This composition run in
complete contrast to the above three kinds of composition. The designs are not
symmetrical and not arranged around a centre. Its layout is thus, comparatively
vivid, such as Fig 1, which depicts a
hunting scene. Fig 2 shows scenes of
battles on land and in water. Though there is a central axis in this
composition, the two sides are not symmetrical.
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Loose composition
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The
above four kinds of composition – in
rows, symmetrical, net and loose are all on a plane. The other type of
composition, relief composition,
refers to the sculptures on bronze-ware. Two features of patterns in relief on
bronzes of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties are:
- Excellent
coordination with the shapes of bronze-ware. Ancient Chinese bronze
artists were good at decorating bronzes in line with their
characteristics. For instance, they carved loop handles and the ear of
vessels into images of a snake and a dragon, a lid into the image of a
bird or the head of a beast, the column of a jue (a tripod wine
vessel) into the shape of an umbrella or a bird. The protruding four
corners of a vessel are locations where bronze artists displayed their
talents.
- Relief décor
linked with plane décor, creating an organic unity. For
instance, on many bronze-ware, the head of an animal is in relief and its
body is flat. The layout of designs on bronze-ware demonstrates the
thought put in by the artists. Artists stressed the political and ritual
significance of bronze-ware in view of its function and nature. At the
same time, they would consider engraving a design in harmony with the
shape of the bronze-ware and its contours.
As for the
selection of motif design, most of the ding (cooking vessel) utilizes
the taotie design, which makes it sacred and dignified. Gui (food
container) have thunder-and-cloud and ripple geometrical patterns. Sometimes,
cicada and phoenix patterns were also used. The hu (wine vessel) which
was widely used in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States
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