The four styles of Greater Chuan

By David Kwo

Dear friends,

The Greater Chuan consists of four styles: Bell and Pot, Stone Drum, Chu Chien, and Writing on silk.

Today we will discuss the Bell and Pot.

The Bell and Pot (Chung Ting) is a designation for the characters cast on bronze vessels during the Shang and Chou periods, from the 14th to the 3rd century B.C. The characters were all cut in a V-groove shape. This style is also called Metal style or Chin Wen (chin is metal; wen is character or word). On the whole, this is a much more advanced form of writing than the previous Shell and Bone. (see Figs. 10-15). The characters were written or carved on a clay or wax model, and then the product was cast in bronze.

This development of the Metal style as a decorative form was significant, because for the first time in the evolution of the Chinese written language, an artistic form emerged. Figure 10c, for example, illustrates the artistic elements introduced into the composition of the ideogram archery or to shoot composed of an arrow and hand. These picture designs, as seen in Figure 10, showing people, animals, objects, and social life in the Shang period, were derived from ideograms which had existed two millennia earlier.

The Chin Wen writings of the Shang period (see Fig. 11a) were very carefully designed. Pictorial designs were put side by side with the calligraphy symbols, as shown in Fig. 10. As Fig. 11a illustrates, the inscriptions show artistic freedom in their composition.

A Chou composition often results in a series of identical rectangular shapes within almost evenly allotted negative shape. Fig. 11b illustrates this vividly, I think.

There are two well known pieces of Chin Wen from the early Chou period which are of artistic significance. One is the Chou Kung Chuo (see Fig. 12a), a four-legged vessel, full of bold and thick brush strokes, which gives it a solid and sturdy feel. The other (on the right), called Ta Yu Ting, is a long-legged, standing pot. In spite of its rigidity, the writing has a beauty that raises it to the level of art.

The next piece which illustrates a change in Chou style is the vessel Tsuo Tso Ta Ting in Fig. 13a. The characters in this framework are free, but the brush strokes are not as strong as those in Ta Yu Ting (Fig. 12b). This decline is visible in a later example of writing on the standing vessel Ta Ko Ting (see Fig. 13b). The characters are so well arranged and so evenly allocated that the composition appears static.

There are two outstanding pieces from this period which have enjoyed popularity ever since they were unearthed in the ancient capital of Lo Yang about 300 years ago. The Mao Kung Ting is a large standing pot, (see Fig. 14a), and the other, San Shih Pan, a large basin (see Fig. 14b). The inscription on Mao Kung Ting is the longest ever discovered for the period, a total of 497 words. Here, the writing is stronger and livelier than on Ta Ko Ting (Fig. 13b); however, in comparison with Ta Yu Ting (Fig. 12b), it still appears feeble.

The other piece, San Shih Pan, was buried for two and a half millennia until being brought to light around 1770. There are 349 words incised in the bottom, recording the settlement of a border dispute between two tribes.

The style of San Shih Pan deserves attention for several reasons: there is coherence in the composition; the characters are not confined to vertical and horizontal orders, and show some freedom in execution; and there is a certain child-like expression in the way the brush was used. This freedom of spirit is absolutely necessary to achieve straightforwardness in a work of art.

Figure 15 shows four of the major styles involved. Fig. 15a shows the Ch'in style, which was somewhat rounder and less orderly in composition. Fig. 15b represents a style from central China, each word suspended in space, with the vertical and horizontal order quite strict. Fig. 15c, the Eastern style, has lines stretched much thinner, and the vertical order is quite clear, becoming more decorative. Lastly, fig. 15d, the Southern style was even more decorative. The free style and the Bird style (see Fig. 16) illustrate the romantic nature of the Southern style. Ultimately, both styles served as important sources for later artistic development in Chinese calligraphy.