Page 179 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

■ Wang Guowei 王國維 (1877–1927), who became intensely made an extraordinary contribution to the study of ancient Chinese
interested in bronze inscriptions after a trip to Japan with his bronzes and their inscriptions.
mentor, Luo Zhenyu 羅振玉. Wang was the first to attempt to
use material from bronze inscriptions to throw fresh light on the Rong Geng 容庚 (1894 – 1983), who was interested in the study
history of the Shang 商 and Zhou 周 dynasties. Among other things, of ancient Chinese characters from childhood, and at an early age
he successfully showed that the origins of the Shang dynasty date became a student of the eminent epigraphist Luo Zhenyu 羅振玉.
1,000 years earlier than had been believed by scholars before the After graduating from Peking University in 1926, Rong taught at
publication of his research. Wang also did much to further scholars’ a number of universities in China. His masterwork, Jinwen Bian
understanding of Western Zhou 西周 (circa 12 /11 centuries – 771 金文編 published in 1925 has been regarded for many years as the
th
th
B.C.) history, geography, ritual, etc. and especially the Western authoritive work on ancient bronze inscriptions, but perhaps Rong’s
Zhou calendrical system, which made possible a more accurate most important contribution to the field of bronze inscription
dating of ancient royal reigns, bronze inscriptions and the vessels studies was his Shang Zhou Qingtongqi Yiqi Tongkao 商周青銅器
upon which they were inscribed, etc. 彝器通考 in two volumes, one of text and one of illustrations.

■ Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892 – 1978), who studied archaeology and, Among western scholars, three merit special mention:
while adopting a Marxist view of class structure in ancient Chinese
society, made use of material on ancient bronzes to argue that ■ Léon Wieger (Georges Frédéric Léon Wieger 1856 – 1933), born in
Western Zhou 西周 society was slave-based. In spite of this bias, Strasbourg Alsace-Lorraine in 1856, Wieger was a medical doctor
Guo did extensive valuable and meaningful research on oracle and Jesuit priest who spent most of his adult life in China. He
bone inscriptions, bronze vessel inscriptions, etc. and was the first wrote a number of books on Chinese language, Chinese folklore,
to carry out a systematic historical analysis and synthesis of the Buddhism, Daoism, etc. and a well-received book on Chinese
names of persons, the styles of writing, the shapes and decorations, characters entitled ‘Caractères chinois’ which was later published
etc. on ancient bronze vessels, which also made it possible to assign in English as ‘Chinese characters: Their Origin, Etymology, History,
a certain chronology to the vessels studied. An extremely prolific Classification and Signification’.
writer, Guo published many books in his lifetime.
■ Bernhard Karlgren (1889 – 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and
■ Chen Mengjia 陳夢家 (1911 – 1966), who, following in the footsteps linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology
of Guo Moruo 郭沫若, advanced further in developing a sound using modern comparative methods and who for many years was
methodology, based on certain criteria, for grouping bronze the director of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm,
vessels into related sets, including the many bronzes which were Sweden. In his attempts to classify ancient bronze vessels according
archaeologically excavated between the end of WWII and the to the style of the calligraphy in which their inscriptions are written
early 1950s. Chen not only placed the modern research of ancient and their decor, Karlgren made a great contribution to the study of
bronzes on a sound basis, but also especially contributed through ancient Chinese bronzes.
his research to a better understanding of Western Zhou 西周
society, government, geography and territorial expansion during ■ Max Loehr (1903 – 1988), a renowned specialist in bronzes, jades
that dynasty. and Chinese painting and a former professor of Chinese Art at
Harvard University and Curator of Harvard’s Fogg Museum. Prof.
One of the earliest victims of the Cultural Revolution 文化大革 Loehr was the most eminent non-Asian Chinese Art Historian of his
命 (1966 – 1976), Chen Mengjia 陳夢家 took his own life in early generation. In 1953 he published a major article on Shang bronzes
September, 1966, tragically cutting short a career in which he had in which he divided and dated them according to a stylistic analysis

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