Exhibition of Chinese Ancient Bronzewares Launched in the Hunan Museum

On the morning of December 30, the original New Year's Exhibition of Chinese Civilization Series, "The King is Back-Exhibition of Chinese Ancient Bronzewares" was grandly opened in the art hall of Hunan Museum. The exhibition was co-organized by the National Museum of China and the Hunan Museum, and was supported by the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan city, Sichuan province, Hunan Academy of Archaeology, Changsha Museum, Hengyang Museum, Yueyang Museum, Xiangtan Museum, Zhuzhou Museum, Ningxiang Tanheli Archaeological Site Administration, Cili County Museum and Shuangfeng County Cultural Heritage Administration.

 
More than 200 representatives attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition, including leaders of the Publicity Department of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Hunan Cultural Heritage Administration, Changsha Radio and Television Administration, heads, experts and scholars from the National Museum of China, and other cultural and historical organizations. Speeches were successively delivered by Duan Xiaoming, director of Hunan Museum; Shan Wei, deputy director of National Museum of China; and Wang Peng, second-class inspector of Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. 

 
 
From treasures of the National Museum of China to the important bronzewares of Hunan Museum and Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan city, Sichuan province, this exhibition gathers more than 280 pieces(sets) of valuable bronzewares. They are important carriers of ancient material culture and spiritual culture. Visitors can admire the solemnity and elegance of bronzewares in Shang and Zhou dynasties, see the inheritance and changes of bronzewares from Han to Ming and Qing dynasties, and interpret and display the long-standing and brilliant bronze culture of ancient China to the audiences out of them.

The first part of the exhibition, "the Age of the King", shows that with the development of casting processes such as the model method, bronze ritual vessels became more and more standardized, and matured in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. This phase not only marked the rise of the "Bronze Age", but also represented an important stage in the gradual formation of Chinese social etiquette and rituals. In the early Western Zhou dynasty, patriarchal system, feudal system (enfeoffment system), ritual and music system, the “nine squares” land ownership system and other systems were developed. The King of Zhou was regarded as “the Lord of the world”, and a five-level titles of "Gong(duke), Hou(marquess), Bo(count), Zi(viscount) and Nan(baron)" was developed, forming a stable structure of "Family-State Isomorphism". Bronzewares embodied and recorded these systems in practice. In the middle and late Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the emperor of Zhou gradually lost the power, "When bad government prevails in the empire, ceremonies, music, and punitive military expeditions proceed from the princes". It was common for princes to use and make tools regardless of the ranking system. Thus, all vassal states have developed bronzewares with local artistic characteristics, and bronze smelting and casting have flourished again.

 
Si (sacrifice) and Rong (war) were important political events in the state, the kingdom and even the imperial dynasty. The second part "Events of State" displays a series of artifacts reflecting sacrifice and war, demonstrating that early bronzewares are mainly used for “Li（rites）” and as “Bing（weapons）”. Since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the hierarchical system of "Lieding (ding allocation)" and "Lexuan (bell setting)" with dings and bells as the core ritual vessels have been established step by step, which has affected China's imperial regime for more than 2000 years. Even if the function of bronzewares in later generations continues to expand, they still have institutional and cultural significance beyond utensils.

 
The third part "Under the Imperial Court" mainly exhibits the bronze sacrificial vessels of the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period and bronze ornaments such as swords, bronze mirrors, bronze seals, bronze horse harness, which reflect the daily life of the nobility. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the use system of bronzewares evolved with the continuous growth of princes, scholar bureaucrats, vassals and emerging aristocrats with military exploit, so the original sanctity and exclusivity of ritual ware were broken. Bronzewares were not only used in temples and state affairs, but also widely appeared in many occasions including family sacrifice, banquet, archery, riding and hunting of the noble class. Meanwhile, daily necessities such as small bronze pieces were popular among people, further extending the secular use of bronzewares.

The fourth part, "the Afterglow of Bronze", focuses on the continuous development of bronze manufacturing technology from the Han dynasty to the Tang dynasty. Bronzewares have always followed the trend of the times and developed new characteristics, for instance, Boshan Censer, reflecting the supernatural thought of the Han dynasty; exotic bronzewares, reflecting national integration and exchanges between the East and the West; as well as bronze statues. In the Song dynasty, with the rise of the cultural retro movement that aimed at "reviving the past three dynasties", antiqued bronzewares were used as the sacrificial ware in ancestral temples, giving impetus to another peak of bronzeware manufacturing. After the inheritance and development of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Xuande Censer and other categories of bronzewares emerged, and copper daily utensils and small pieces of curios were more popular. The glow of the classical "Jijin (sacrificial vessels)" has traversed through the ancient and modern and added to the glory of Chinese culture.