A Micro-study Of The Decorative Patterns On Late-shang (Yinxu) Bronze Vessels

The bronzes from the Late-Shang period represent the highest accomplishment of the Bronze Age both in terms of their casting technology and of their exquisite decorative patterns.The styles of the decorative patterns on the bronzes from this period are most numerous,as the methods of making them are richest;therefore,the study of such patterns from the Late-Shang period can offer us a comprehensive understanding of the decorative art of ancient Chinese bronze in general.However,compared with the study of bronze vessels from the Late-Shang period,research on their decorative patterns is apparently insufficient.As past scholarship in China focused mainly on the topological classification of such patterns and explanation of their embedded motifs,a relatively mature and systematic approach to the decorative patterns of Shang bronzes has yet to be developed.This dissertation offers a special systematic analysis of the decorative patterns on the lateShang bronzes.Based on observation and careful analysis of all kinds of traces and marks that emerged from the mold-making or casting process on the surface of a large number of the currently extant bronzes from the Late-Shang period,the author reconstructed the complete “workflow” of the casting process that was likely to have been followed by the late-Shang craftsmen in making the various decorative patterns of the bronzes.“Micro-analysis” is the main research method followed throughout this dissertation.This method provides a logic and objective criterion for settling the long-time debate among scholars as to whether certain patterns were engraved on the models or on the molds,which deepens our understanding of the complexity of forms and the reason and conditions behind the creation of the Shang bronze patterns.One of the important methodological focuses of the “Micro-analysis” is to study the contour lines of the surface relief of the bronzes;that is,to compare the relative heights of different parts of the decorative pattern on a bronze.Overall,the production of bronze patterns was nothing but a consecutive “transferring process”,in which patterns are transferred from the model to the mold,then from the mold to the bronze.Therefore,the incised intaglio lines,which are made on the model,becomes raised lines when transferred onto the mold,and vice versa.The whole process is basically a process of “transferring” between intaglio lines and raised lines.Understanding this rule and observing carefully the small traces and marks that the Shang craftsmen left behind on the bronze surface,we can logically deduce the relative heights of the different parts of a decorative pattern on the model,the mold,and the bronze surface,which represent three different stages of the overall workflow of bronze-casting.Another important methodological focus of the “Micro-analysis” approach is to compare the different heights between a decorative pattern and blank area outside the pattern on the bronze surface.In the past,because there are no decorations on these “blank areas”,these areas were often ignored by scholars.However,these blank areas offer very important references to inferring the process of pattern-making on bronzes in the present study.The last important methodological point of this dissertation is to compare the actual molds that have been excavated in Anyang-Yinxu and the bronzes from the late-Shang period.For this purpose,I have had the honor and opportunity to examine a large number of molds stored in the Anyang Archaeological Workstation of the Institute of Archaeology(CASS)in the winter of 2016.During my stay,I carefully observed and analyzed in detail the decorative patterns on these unearthed clay molds.They provide another important source for this dissertation.Guided by the above methods,and taking the techniques of pattern-making as the main standpoint,in this dissertation I established a completely new system of classification of LateShang bronze decorative patterns into seven types(A-G).Meanwhile,based on further discussion of the stylistic and representational differences between the different types,I probe into the technological process of their formation and proposed a unique “workflow” in the casting process of each of the seven types.By suggesting a new classification,we can understand the overall range of variation of the bronze ornaments from Anyang-Yinxu in the late-Shang period,and can also help avoid partiality in our analysis.This new classification is based neither on the motifs of bronze patterns,nor on the forms or styles of such ornaments as in previous scholarship.It is a new classification that is based on analysis of the methods of pattern-making and of their formation process.Therefore,I think this new classification is more logical and meaningful than the one that is solely based on forms and styles.Furthermore,this dissertation also introduces the method of experimental archaeology into the study of bronze ornaments.Through the actual making of decorated models and molds in the laboratory,this study effectively verified the validity of the suggested production processes of the seven types of decorative patterns on late-Shang bronzes.It is more objective and persuasive than the work of an “armchair strategist”,seen sometimes in previous studies.Finally,from the perspective of archaeology,in the present dissertation I also discuss the temporal development and the evolution of bronze decorative patterns in the Shang period,as well as the regularity of their burial in tombs of different ranks,putting them back to their archaeological context;this provides a way to understanding their social backgrounds.For this purpose,I examined more than 50 tombs excavated by archaeologists in Anyang-Yinxu to see whether there is any specific trend that the bronze patterns may indicate with respect to time and burial specifications.On the basis of this comprehensive analysis,from the perspective of bronze ornaments,the dissertation probes a much bigger picture of the late-Shang culture and lateShang society.