Transcript Chinese Bronzes

Chinese Bronzes
Your assignment is to create a coil pot that
has been inspired by the shapes and
strong decorating techniques representative of the
Shang and Zhou Dynasty bronze vessels.
Your vessel needs to:
• Be at least eight inches in one direction.
• Show an overall texture/decoration
representative of the bronzes
• Use stamping carving, and/or modeling.
• Relate the shape of your vessel to the added
decoration.
• Show outstanding craftsmanship.
This is a good example
of relating the shape
of the decoration to
the shape of the form.
The dragon theme of
the handles is repeated
in the decorative scales
and the overall shape
of the vessel.
The Bronze Age
culture in china
developed early in
the first half of the
second millennium
B.C. in the Yellow
River Valley.
By this time,
China had
a strong, centralized
government,
a hierarchy of social
classes, palatial
architecture,
a writing system,
elaborate religious
rituals, and the
knowledge of how to
make bronze.
The use of
bronze is a major
development in
any civilization
because it
requires a tightly
organized
community. The
production of
bronze is a major
undertaking.
Sources of copper and tin
must be located and
protected. The ore must
be mined and the metal
removed and shipped to
where it will be used.
Melting large quantities
of metal requires large
kilns with high intensity
fires and a demanding
control of the cooling
process to avoid cracks.
Crafts of earlier periods were
based on portable, easily
obtainable materials such as clay,
stone, shell, and bone.
The Shang artists used real and imaginary animals
that often flowed into each other on the surface.
They also used dancing figures,
musical instruments and symbols of battle.
Your assignment is to create a coil pot that has been
inspired by the shapes and strong decorating techniques
representative of the
Shang and Zhou Dynasty bronze vessels.
Your vessel needs to:
Be at least eight inches in one direction.
Show an overall texture/decoration representative of the bronzes
by using stamping carving, and modeling.
Relate the shape of your vessel to the added decoration.
Show outstanding craftsmanship.
The most interesting
shapes rise up off the
table and are smaller
at the base.
Along with the bronze
examples, these are
the types of shapes
on which you could
base your coil pot.