Page 171 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

A.D.) who collected and studied a great number of ancient bronze expanded between the years 1107 and 1123 or 1125 A.D. by the
vessels near the site of Gao 鎬, the ancient capital of the Western Northern Song Prime Minister Wang Fu 王黼 (1079 – 1126 A.D.)
Zhou 西周, southwest of present-day Xian 西安 in Shaanxi 陝西 and a group of scholars working under him, on the instructions
province, together with Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007 – 1072 A.D.) one of Emperor Huizong 徽宗 (1101 – 1125 A.D.). In this extremely
of the greatest writers, poets, statesmen and historians of the Song important 30-volume work, Wang Fu 王黼 and his assistants not
dynasty. only recorded and arranged according to their shapes, all of the eight
hundred and thirty-nine bronze ritual vessels then held in the Song
■ The Jigulu Bawei 集古錄跋尾, edited and published by Ouyang 宋 Imperial Collections, but also described and included drawings
Xiu 歐陽修 (1007 – 1072 A.D.), is regarded by scholars as the first of each piece as well as drawings or rubbings of the inscriptions
specialized study of the inscriptions cast on nineteen inscribed ritual on all the inscribed pieces. Perhaps even more importantly, after
bronze vessels known at that time. The book contains information making a thorough search for the names of ancient ritual vessels in
about the place of discovery of each bronze, its shape and size and all the classical and historical texts then known, as well as in earlier
a transcription and translation of its inscription, if there was one. works on bronzes, Wang Fu 王黼 standardized the terminology
Ouyang Xiu’s book was greatly influenced by the work of Liu Chang used to describe ancient bronze vessel shapes and their decorative
劉敞. motifs.
■ The Kaogu Tu 考古圖, written by the Northern Song scholar Lü Unfortunately some of the ritual bronzes published in the Xuan
Dalin 呂大臨 (1040 – 1092 A.D.) and published in 1092, is probably He Bogu Tu 宣和博古圖 are now considered to be later copies of
the oldest and most important compilation produced during the ancient ritual bronzes.
Song 宋 period. It includes a description and a drawing of two
hundred and ten bronze vessels and objects, as well as thirteen It is generally agreed that the work carried out by the Song 宋
jade objects, dating from the Shang 商 dynasty up to the Han 漢 antiquarians, all without exception men of great erudition, was very
dynasty, all of which were held in either the Imperial Collections or meticulous and well-researched and thus the books they produced
in ten private famous collections of the period. were well-written, factual studies. Apart from a few errors, sometimes
extremely slight, the Song 宋 antiquarians’ method of classifying
Of the two hundred and ten bronzes treated in the book, one bronzes and the terminology which they either established or
hundred and forty-eight were considered to date from the Shang 商 standardized, constitute the basis of our modern classifications and
and Zhou 周 dynasties. Lü arranged these according to their shape, terminology. Thus, the Song antiquarians found in the ancient texts
then meticulously recorded their sizes, weights, inscriptions, etc. and then standardized names for ritual vessels like ding 鼎, li 鬲, jue
and indicated, wherever possible, the area where they had been 爵, jia 斝, pan 盤, etc., and terms like leiwen 雷紋 and taotie 饕餮 mask
discovered as well as other details of their provenance. He also to refer respectively to a motif composed of finger-print-like spirals,
searched through ancient classics such as the Lushi Chunqiu Annals and the animal mask motif, all of which names and terms are still used
呂氏春秋, the Zhouli 周禮, the Erya 爾雅, etc., etc. to determine by scholars today.
the correct names by which such vessels and their motifs should be
called, as well as their use in antiquity. Lü’s extremely important
work was the pioneer in its field and is the book upon which all 3. Ming 明 studies
further works and studies of ancient Chinese bronze vessels, their
morphology, etc. are based. During the Ming 明 dynasty (1368 – 1644 A.D.), on the other hand,
antiquarians and scholars seem to have been less attracted by the study
■ The Xuan He Bogu Tu 宣和博古圖 was compiled, revised and then of ancient bronze vessels, and when they did set their hand to the study

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